
ELANESIAN AND MICRONESIAN WEAPONS and IMPLEMENTS. 



. . THE . . 

WORLD'S FAIR 

ITS MEANING AND SCOPE 

Its Old-World Friends, Their Countries, Customs and Religions 

^'VSJlT TSEY W^ILL EJ^mSIT. 



The United States at the Fair. 

THE CITY AND THE SITE. 

THE COLOSSAL STRUCTURES. 



/BY 



H. G. CUTLER, 



AUTHOR OF RAND, McNALLY & CO.'S NEW ATLAS OF THE WORLD, PANORAMA OF NATIONS, 
CONTRIBUTOR TO .MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY, ETC., ETC. 



i^^Ej^v^isEUD EiDimoisr. 



PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED. 



JiO/^-?^ 



CHICAGO : 

STAR PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

1892. 

/ - 



COPYRIGHT 1892, 

BY 

STAR PUBLISHING 'COMPANY. 



K 



^ 



t. CONTENTS. 



LET US WARM THE WORLD. 



The Fair's Aim and Resolve — European Visitors — What of our Northmen — Ancient American Fathers 

— Enter the Americas — The Chance of Four Centuries Pages 9—18 

THE SPANIARDS. 

The Basques — Ignatius Loyola — Spanish Gypsies — Cadiz — Carthage in Spain — Spanish Morocco — 
Seville — Cordova — Tlie Gardens of Spain — The Gothic — Roman Princes — Toledo — Granada and 
the Alhambra — Southern and Eastern Coasts — The Cid — Barcelona — The Romans and the Celts 

— The Mecca of Spain — Valladolid — Salamanca — The Escurial — Madrid — Amusements of the 
Native — Cuba and Columbus' Tomb — -Portuguese and Prince Henry Pages 19 ■ — 52 

THE ITALIANS. 

Modern Rome — Capitoline Hill — The Pantheon — The Vatican and St. Peter's — Peter's Prison — The 
Life nf To-day — The Catacombs — The Colosseum and the Forum — The Italian Peasant — 
Vespucius City — Politics and Religion — Palaces and Gardens — Historic Bridges — The Home of 
Columbus — Naples — The Buried Cities — The Dead and the Living — Venice Rising from the Sea — ■ 
The Church of St. Mark Pages 53 — 74 

THE FRENCH. 

French Marriages — The Bretons of France — Out into the Fighting — The People of the Pyrenees — 
Royalty and Religion — A Wonderlul P'ortified City — The Vineyard of the Earth — From Nice to 
Calais — Marseilles — Deserts and Ruins — L.yons and her Weavers — Gleams from Eastern France — 
Cheery Normandy — The Conqueror's Home — Norman Girls — The Approach to Paris — A Bird's- 
Eye View — Old Paris — North of the Seine — South of the Seine — St. Vincent de Paul — Victor 
Hugo — The Military Quarter — Boulevards and Parks — Theatres and Delicate Economy — Supple 
and Muscular People Pages 75 — no 

THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 
Basis of the Englishman — The Less Ruling the Greater — Exploring the Thames — Oxford — From 
Oxford to Windsor — From Windsor to London — London and London City — The Fashionable 
West End — The City — London Tower and the Docks — Where Peter Worked — Woolwich and 
Greenwich — Canterbury and Thomas a Becket — Dover and Plaslings — The Chalky Cliffs and Old 
Forests — Epsom Salts and Races — The Forest of Death — TJie Isle of Wight — To Eddystone 
Lighthouse — From the New Forest, Inland — Along Bristol Channel — King Arthur's Land — A 
Literary Land —Dreary Dartmoor — Rocks and Flowers — Houses and Mines — Among Miners and 
Fishermen — A Dead Language — Bristol and Bath — ^ Shakespeare'? Avon — A Second Holland — 
Cathedral Cities — Cambridge — Bunyan, Cowper and Verulam — Yarmouth Flats — A Famous 
Battle- Field — Back to Nottingham — Byron and Robin Hood — A Castle and Country Inns — 
America in England — The English York — Manchester — Liverpool — Gladstone and his Estate — ■ 
Manufacturing and Mechanical England — Peveril of the Peak — The Pottery Shire — The Border 
Land — The Scotch — Edinburgh — Melrose and Abbottsford — Burns and the Ayr — The Clyde and 
Glasgow — Glasgow — ■ The Scottish Highlands — The Actual Highlands — The Welsh and Snowdon — 
The Irish — Irish Cities and Scenery Pages in — 174. 

THE GERMANS. 

The Government and the Army — Educational Drill — Student's Nicknames — Duels — Great University 
Lights — Heidelberg — Leipzig — Agriculturists — The Forests of Germany — The High and Low 
Germans — The German and the Rhine — Folk Lore — The Hartz Movmtains — The Brocken and 
Goethe — The Hartz Towns — Manufacture of German Beer — Bavaria and Wiirtemberg — Cologne — • 
Family Life— Berlin— Some Famous German Cities— Austria's World's Fair City Pages 175—212 

OUR FAR EAST COUSINS. 

Perhaps our Fore-Fathers, too — Egypt — The Nile and Egypt — The Fellaheen — Their Wives — Egyptian 
Schools — Gliding up the Nile Pages 213 — 234 



IV . CONTENTS. 

THE SYRIANS. 

The Druses — The Maronites — Smyrna — The Hebrews and Jerusalem — The Road to Jericho — Beth- 
lehemites — Nazareth Pages 235 — 246 

THE HINDOO. 

The System of Caste — A Brahman — Castes and Tribes — A Native Hunt — The Tamuls — The Rajpoots 
— The Gypsies' Land — Other Great Tribes — The Ceylonese — Rehgions of India — Influence of 
Buddhism — A Mohammedan — The Fakir — A Parsee — A Sikh — The Hindu Family — A Son's Birth 

— He goes to School — A Girl's Education — Marriage Ceremonies — Female Education — " The Order 
of Merit" — A Patriarch's Death— The Sacred City Pages 247—280 

THE JAPANESE. 

Government and Religion — The Corner-stone of Society — Marriage and Women's Duties — Dress and 
Personal Adornment — Amusements — Jugglers and Acrobats — The Nobility of Gladiators — The 
Theatre — Bathing and Sea Houses — European Habits — Unworthy of Japan — Style of Architecture 

— Within the House — The Last Resting-Place — Agriculture and Manufactures — The Japanese as 
Artists— The First, Last— The Coreans Pages 281— 300 

THREE CENTURIES OF DISCOVERY. 

Columbus and his Followers — Vespucius — Ponce de Leon — Balboa — Cortes — Magellan — Entry of 
France — The Awakening of England Pages 301 — 320 

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 

Alaska — Remnants of the Great Tribes — Present Ways of Living — The Indian's "Totem" — The 
Flatheads — The Apaches — The Dakotas — The Sioux — Indian Religion and Medicine — The Medicine 
Dance — Burial Places — Civilized and Semi-Civilized — The Cherokees — Creeks — Seminoles — 
Choctaws and Chickasavvs Pages 321 — 344 

THE WORLD'S FAIR. 
Figurative and Real Pages 345 — 348 

FATHERS OF OUR WORLD'S FAIR. 

The Very Oldest —The First Real World's Fair — World's Fair, New York, 1853— World's Fair, Paris, 
1855 — London Fair of 1862 — Paris, 1867— The Vienna World's Fair, 1873 — Philadelphia Centen- 
nial Exhibition, 1876 — Paris, 1878^ — Paris, 1889 Pages 349 — 372 

HISTORY OF OUR WORLD'S FAIR. 

Germ and Young Shoots — Organization of the Forces — Pillars of the Exposition — Exhibit, Site, Presi- 
dential Proclamation, etc. — The Site Pages 373 — 3S6 

MOSTLY IN THE AIR. 

World's Fair Mammoths — Towering on Paper — No Luck in this Shoe — The Universe Taken In — 
Modest Ones — Dropping a Thousand Feet into Water — A Look Underground — Some Domes of 
Thought — Under One Roof— Great Heavens! — What Laxy People Missed — Transit for the 
Rushers — The Columbian Tower Pages 3S7 — 406 

OUR WORLD'S FAIR CITY. 

A Grand Lake Frontage— Chicago's Historic Ground— Why Wolf Point was not our Center — Wabash 
Avenue — State Street and the Masonic Temple — Real Estate and Politics — A Woman's Temple — 
The Rookery and Hall of Babel — Limits of the Great Fire — The Parks and Boulevards 

Pages 407 — 450 

PEN PICTURES OF THE FAIR. 

The City in its Best Clothes — The approach to the Fair — The Fair's Grand Avenue — A Bit of Nature — 
Southern End of the Site — Going North— The Woman's Palace— Water Palaces and Palatial 
Aquaria — Venice Outdone — The Captive Balloon — The Driving Park — The care of Life and Prop- 
erty — Water and Light — Means of Transportation — The Return Trip Pages 45 1 — 468 

UNCLE SAM'S EXHIBIT. 

A short Preliminary — The Agricultural Exhibit — The Interior Department — The Naval and War 
Exhibits — The Smithsonian Institution — Other Department Exhibits Pages 469 — 482 



CONTENTS. V 

CLASSIFIED AND SPECIAL EXHIBITS. 

Plan of Operations — The Building — A City in Itself — Glass — Paper — The Jeweler's Realm — A Wonder- 
ful Clock— Silk Display — Archseology and Ethnology — Liberal Arts— Education — Crime and its 
Punishment Pages 483—508 

AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 

The Dairy — Forestry — The Live Stock Exhibit — The Horse — Horticultural Building . . . Pages 509-524 

MACHINERY HALL AND TRANSPORTATION BUILDING. 

Setting Type by Machinery — Power and Water — Transportation Building— The Development of Trans- 
portation — Early Locomotives — Roads and Road Vehicles — Water Transportation . Pages 525 — 539 

THE ELECTRICAL DISPLAY. 

The Electric Fountain — Electricity's Home — Light — An Electrical Home Pages 540 — 547 

MINES AND MINING. 

Ancient Iron Working — From the Mountains of Mexico — Producing Bessemer Steel — Electricity and 
Metals Pages 548—555 

FISH AND FISHERIES. 
The Aquaria — Fish Culture — A GUmpse Under the Ocean Pages 556—561 

THE ART GALLERIES. 

Pages 562—565 

THE WOMAN'S DEPARTMENT. 

Its Inception — Mrs. Palmer — Beginnings of Woman's Work — A Woman's Building for Woman's 
Exhibits — The Building's Decorations — The Gallery of Honor — Lace and Tapestry — The Model 
Kitchen — The Last Nail — Comfort for Old and Young Pages 566—580 

AMONG THE STATES. 

Illinois and Her Neighbors — California and the Coast — New England and The Middle States — The 
South Pages 581—589 

SOME FOREIGN EXHIBITS. 

In General — Great Britain and Ireland — England's Household — India — Coffee with the Turks — The 
Czar's Dominions — The Fatherland — Italy — La Belle France — China and Japan . . Pages 590 — 602 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FULL PAGE LITHOGRAPHS IN TEN COLORS. 



Melanesian and Micronesian Weapons and Implements , Frontispiece 

Products of Hindu Skill 256 

Sioux War Dance 333 

Ancient American Earthenware 4g8 

FULL PAGE ENGRAVINGS. 

Spanish Harmony 36 

In the Fields of France 85 

French Villagers 92 

St. Vincent de Paul . 104 

An English Country Crossing. , 1 13 

An English Home Scene 128 

An Old University Town 184 

Cologne Cathedral 204 

A German Fraulein 209 

An Egyptian Temple 215 

A Bedouin Chief 222 

Ruins on the Nile 226 

Reading from the Koran 228 

A Youth of Upper Egypt 232 

A Woman of Syria 243 

In the Harem 245 

Within an Indian Temple 260 

The Blessing of Buddha 264 

Temple Garden in Tokio 292 

Columbus Approaches San Salvador 305 

America 308 

Voyaging on the Columbia 322 

The Crystal Palace, London, 185 1 324 

Indian Cards, Card Case and Fish Hook 326 

Totem Poles and Indian Huts, Ft. Mangell 330 

Indian Grave near Ft. Mangell, Alaska 337 

World's Fair, Vienna, 1873 34' 

Art Gallery, Philadelphia, 1876 362 

Main Building, Philadelphia Centennial 359 

Eiffel Tower and Bird's-Eye View, Paris, 1889 .■ . . 370 

Grand Entrance, Paris, 1889 37^ 

Harlow N. Higinbotham 3^2 

The Chicago Columbus Tower 3^^ 

The Columbian Triumphal Arch 39° 

Chicago Public Library 400 

The Moving Sidewalk 402 

The Columbian Tower 40S 

Masonic Temple , 4i6 

New Art Institute 818 

The Temple. 428 

Chicago after the Fire 429 

Chicago and Fair Site ,. 43^ 

Board of Trade 440 

Chicago's Dream of the Fair 443 

The Stock ^'ards 444 

Bird's-Eye View of Fair Grounds 450 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Vll 



Administration Building 460 

United States Government Building 470 

Man of War 473 

Life Saving Exhibit 476 

Manufactures Building 480 

Smithsonian Institution '. 481 

Entrance to Egyptian Street 490 

In the Silk Exhibit 495 

A Sclavic Home in Chicago 500 

Scandmavian Costumes , 503 

Agricultural Building 510 

Among the Stock t 513 

Horticultural Hall 520 

Candidates for Prizes 523 

Machinery Hall 530 

Transportation Building 531 

An Aisle in Machinery Hall 535 

Electrical Building 541 

Mining Building 552 

Fisheries Building S53 

Fishmg Boati 557 

Art Palace 564 

Woman's Building , 574 

Illinois State Building 582 

A Glimpse at California's Exhibit 584 

Aztec and Indian Homes in Chicago 594 



MINOR ILLUSTRATIONS. 



First Icelandic Colonists 12 

Statue of Leif Erikson, at Milwaukee 13 

Columbus 18 

A Gypsy Chief 23 

A Spanish Girl _ 29 

Gate of the Alhambra 33 

Peasant of Eastern Spain 35 

Scene in Salamanca 41 

Spanish Water Carrier 44 

Bull Fighters 47 

Tomb of Columbus, at Havana 49 

Street Scene in Rome 56 

The Fates, by Michael Angelo 63 

Design for an Ornament 64 

Placque by Cellini 65 

Bronze Helmet Ornament 66 

Wall Painting, Pompeii 69 

Tombs of Pompeii 70 

Garden of Pompeii 71 

Marble Table found at Pompeii ... 72 

A Farmer of Brittany 76 

A Beggar of Brittany 77 

Renaissance Window, Rouen 94 

A Modern French Painter 102 

Bust of Victor Hugo 105 

Noted Picture of Lot's Wife 120 

Piece of Statuary 121 

Waterloo Bridge 123 

St. Andrew's Church, Holborn 124 

Fish Sale in Cornwall 138 

Old English Doorway '. 144 

An Old English Lady 146 

A Derbyshire Inn 149 

Old English Gateway 152 

English Pottery 156 

In the Emerald Isle 173 

Schiller 183 

A Village Group 190 

Watching the Rhine 193 



Scene on the Rhine 195 

Goethe 197 

An Old German Gateway 199 

Museum at Berlin 210 

A Copt 216 

Egyptian Ornaments 218 

A Jew of Cairo 220 

Egyptian Vase 227 

An Egyptian Chair 229 

A Syrian 236 

Village of Syria 237 

A Druse Lady 238 

An Old Turk 240 

A Man of Jerusalem. 240 

At Jerusalem's Wall 241 

Burghers of Ceylon 248 

Water Carrier 249 

Indian Tree Huts 250 

A Brahman at Prayer 252 

Chief ofa Village 253 

A Tiger Hunt 254 

Women of Ceylon 255 

House in Ceylon 256 

Hindu Gypsies 258 

A Baggage Animal 259 

Bas Relief from an Indian Temple 262 

Royal Palace at Agra 267 

Cloth Venders 270 

Scene at Benares 278 

A Japanese 282 

A Noble Lady 283 

Selling Marine Animals 283 

A Japanese Girl 285 

Former Nobleman and Servant 286 

Riding in a Palanquin 289 

Interior ofa Tea House 290 

A Japanese Bed-room 296 

Singers and Musicians 299 

Sebastian Cabot 304 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



House where Columbus Died .' 309 

Balboa Takes Possession of the Pacific 312 

House where Pizarro was Assassinated 316 

Sir Francis Drake 317 

Captain Cook 3^8 

A Sioux Warrior 332 

Monument at Plymouth 347 

Agricultural Hall, Philadelphia, 1876 364 

Horticultural Hall, Philadelphia, 1876 364 

Lyman J. Gage 374 

Hon. Thomas W. Palmer 37^ 

Hon. Thomas B. Bryan 378 

Col. Geo. R. Davis 379 

Wm. T. Baker 380 

Moses P. Handy 3^4 

Hon. Benjamin Butterworth 386 

View of the " Drop " 393 

Interior of the Falling Car 394 

The Columbus Dome, Exterior View 395 

The Columbus Dome, Interior View 396 

Palacio's Columbian Globe 397 

The Cantilever 404 

The Auditorium 4o8 

First Residence in Chicago 4ii 

Fort Dearborn in 1857 412 

Wolf Point 414 

Pontiac Building 420 

First City Hall 42o 

Chamber of Commerce 42 1 

The Tacoma 422 

Post Office 423 

Court House and City Hall 423 

Grand Central Depot 423 

Leiter Building 423 

The Rookery 425 

Ashland Block 426 



Unity Block....... 426 

Boyce Building 426 

Great Northern Hotel 426 

First House Erected After the Fire 434 

Scene in Lincoln Park 435 

Garfield Park 436 

Map of Jackson Park 453 

An Exposition Letter Box 465 

Arab Workmen at the Fair 484 

In the Zoological Department 485 

South American Types 487 

Algerian Barber Shop 491 

An Oriental Turner 492 

Antique Padlock 497 

The Revolving Prison 506 

The Nuremberg Collection 506 

Chinese Punishments 507 

Relics of George Washington 508 

Wm. I. Buchanarr 514 

Envelope Making Machine 527 

Sandwich Island Boat '. 538 

One of the Groups 54° 

Another Group 543 

Electric Fountain 544 

Whaling Implements 5^1 

Mrs. Potter Palmer 5^7 

Mrs. Susan Gale Cooke 57i 

Wisconsin Building 586 

Michigan Building 586 

Iowa Building 586 

California Building 586 

New York Building 588 

Pennsylvania Building 588 

Ohio Building 588 

Massachusetts Building 588 

A Fair Turk 598 



LET US WARM THE WORLD. 




THE FAIR'S AIM AND RESOLVE. 

^ANY of our elders across the water, while they admit that 
Americans may be quite strong upon their legs, still think in 
their souls that they are scarcely out of swaddling clothes — 
at most, are but green youth, who" have yet to bear ripe 
fruit. Our own city is such a bounding type of life that 
some good people even in the United States, who are stiff- 
jointed, tire of the buzz, the bustle and the rush, and call the atmosphere 
simply wind. 

Now, what the Government proposes to do, and what Chicago has 
set out to accomplish, is to warm the world up to the blood-heat of 
youth — to prove that there is bottom to American speed, that we are 
grateful to those who gave us birth and strength, and that we are not 
ashamed of our record, but expose it and invite honest criticism. The 
Western Hemisphere is to be weighed by the Eastern. Particularly are 
our elders to say whether those lives have been worth the living, which 
had their second birth when they cut clear of all entangling 
European alliances. The Great Republic and Republican America 
are on trial. 

Although the national act creating the Columbian Exposition pro- 
vides for an exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and products of 
the soil, mine and sea, the event looms into vaster proportions the nearer 
we approach it. World's congresses of art, of science, of politics, of 
philosophy, and of religion, will meet in the throbbing heart of this young 
nation, and — we will warm them. America shall stretch forth her hand 
in such a way that the world must grasp it. What is best in the West 
is to be allied with what is noblest in the East. That is the kind of 
entangling alliance which is to cap the nineteenth century, 

9 



lO THE WORLD S FAIR. 



EUROPEAN VISITORS. 



It may be, then, that the unofficial, but homely title — the World's 
Fair — best expresses this idea of national heartiness and v/armth. 
Despite every form of legislation which may tend to separate nation 
from nation ; despite wars and rumors of wars, despite famine and pesti- 
lence, the European fathers of the Columbian era shall be drawn to the 
city which the Government has chosen as their host. They shall be 
overcome by a storm of kindnesses. As they are, therefore, destined to 
visit us, it is a pleasure to pave the way to a sociable and profitable 
season by throwing out some information about the characters, the con- 
nections and the homes of our coming guests. In the twinkling of an 
eye, after April 30, 1893, they will be in Chicago. The world will be 
here. No time then to pick up convenient information about our visitors 
from Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Ger- 
maay, Holland, or Russia. So that now — or rather in this book — the 
past and present of these people will be pictured. When we meet them 
at the Exposition they will not then be a mass of strangers to be 
hurriedly assorted, but so many select companies of friends. 

As the prime object of the Columbian Exposition, also, is to cele- 
brate the four hundredth anniversary of the Discovery of America, we 
have organized our tiny World's Fair upon the historic basis. Spain 
was the father of the New World; Italy its mother. Italy gave birth to 
Columbus, Vespucius, John Cabot and other discoverers of minor fame; 
Spain sent forth Columbus and Vespucius, and also Sebastian Cabot, 
after England had withdrawn from the field of Western discoveries. 
Portugal shares with Spain the honor of revealing to the world the 
southern portion of the Western Hemisphere, The discoverer of Brazil 
was a Portuguese, and Vespucius made two voyages in the employ of the 
Portuguese, during one of which he planted the first colony of America, 
on the southeastern coast of that country. There were French fisher- 
men in the Gulf of St. Lawrence before the Cabots sighted any portion 
of her shores; and four years after the Cabots announced their discoveries 
of northern lands, a ship loaded with Portuguese adventurers went down 
in the icy waters of Hudson Bay. After the early Spanish and Portu- 
guese discoveries, the next great advance was made by France, who, 
through an Italian navigator, gave us the Atlantic, coast line of the 
United States. England was still in the background as a discoverer, 
and so she continued for many years. Take note, therefore, that we 



WHAT OF OUR NORTHMEN r H 

introduce the European nations in the general order of their introduction 
to us, viz.: (i)the great discoverers — the Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese 
and Frenchmen; (2) the great colonizers — the Englishmen, Scandinavians, 
Germans and Dutch, with the Russians thrown in as representatives 
of an empire which stretches from G'ermany almost to our own, and 
which claims those savages of Siberia who are so closely connected 
with the natives of Northwestern America. Furthermore, the Russians 
first showed us Alaska, and then sold it to us. We surely do not need to 
strain a point in order to pass the Russian into the European depart- 
ment of the World's Fair. 

WHAT OF OUR NORTHMEN? 

"But what of the Vikings, or Scandinavian sea-kings? Did they 
not sight the shores of Northeastern America, plant their feet there, and 
even establish a colony, five centuries before Columbus saw land?" 

The above queries are indignantly put by scholars and lovers of 
justice throughout the country. 

Granted that they did, and that Columbus during his visit to Ice- 
land, in 1477, carefully examined the documents relating to those discov- 
eries stored in the monastery of Helgafell. For a century and a half 
before he came, no Norse ship had sailed between Iceland and America, 
but since his coming, communication between the Old World and the 
New has never ceased; the Columbian era, which we celebrate, has been 
one of uninterrupted discovery and growth. 

- From the Icelandic port which Columbus visited had gone forth, to 
Greenland and stranger lands, some of the most famous of Scandinavian 
explorers. The social, pleasure-loving Icelanders still repeated the old 
sagas, which detailed these voyages and told of the exile to Greenland 
of the murderous leader, Erik the Red; the going with him of his Norwe- 
gian companion, Herjulf; and the search of Bjarni for his father 
Herjulf. Bjarni was in Norway at the time his father left his 
home in Iceland and cast his fortunes with Erik the Red. In the 
days of Columbus, the people still told of the wild lands of ice and wood, 
the beautiful shores and pitiless seas which Bjarni had seen to the South, 
to which he had been driven and over which he had scudded before the 
contrary winds. Their blue eyes lighted with national pride and their 
gigantic forms grew firmer as they heard from the story singers how 
Leif, the son of Erik, was most scornful when Bjarni returned to his 
father without having had the hardihood to set foot upon the soil of 



12 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

these unknown lands; and how the fearless Leif sailed where Bjarni had 
been driven, and placed his foot and his men upon shores which he called 
Helluland (flat-land), Markland (wood-land) and Vinland (vine-land). 

There is nothing in any of Columbus' biographies to prove that he 
knew of the Scandinavian discoveries, or of previous voyages, alleged 
to have been made by Irishmen and Welshmen, to a country further 
south, which was called Great Ireland. But it is most natural that he 
should have heard of tales which formed so large a part of the national lit- 
erature of Iceland. It is probable, however, that they made little im- 
pression upon his mind. Columbus was looking for the golden East, 




FIRST ICELANDIC COLONISTS. 



the land of spices — not a land of mingled ice and wood. In all likeli- 
hood, he reasoned that in order to reach the western passage he would 
have to sail to the south of Great Ireland. It is evident, when, through 
his brother, he applied to Henry VII. of England for assistance, that he 
contemplated sailing in a westerly direction from Great Britain, and pos- 
sibly coasting down the shores of Vinland and Great Ireland in his 
search for the passage to the Indies. The man who had made the dis- 
covery of new lands the study of his life, and had read widely, corres- 
ponded widely, and traveled widely, undoubtedly knew of these wf^stern 



WHAT OF OUR NORTHMEN? 



13 



discoveries; for the romances relating to many of them had been in 
native manuscript since the twelfth century, and even before then Adam 
of Bremen, the German priest and historian, in his account of the spread 
of the Catholic religion over the countries of the North, had mentioned 
Vinland as a country to the west which (upon the authority of a Danish 
king) the Icelanders had discovered. It is also in evidence that during 
the first portion of the twelfth cen- 
tury a Roman Catholic bishop was 
appointed to preside over the west- 
ern country. The information that 
something had been discovered to 
the west of Europe had been the 
common property of the well in- 
formed for several centuries before 
Columbus' time, but whatever it 
was, no one believed that it could 
cut any figure in the world, and 
during the latter part of the fifteenth 
century neither Italian nor German 
geographers dreamed that the Scan- 
dinavian discoveries were to be con- 
nected in any way with the Indian 
problem. 

Even after the oldest Sagas, 
or national songs of Iceland, have 
been translated and studied for two 
centuries by some of the keenest 
scholars in the world, there are com- 
paratively few who are bold enough 
to locate the place where Leif Erik- 
son landed (1000 A. D.), where 
Thorfinn and his three ship loads 
of emigrants planted a colony of 
lumbermen, hunters and farmers, in 1007, and which for two hundred 
and forty years was the seaport of these Northmen, from which they 
shipped lumber, fish and furs. The region around Narragansett Bay, 
Rhode Island, was for years specially favored by earnest Scandinavian 
scholars; but consternation was carried into their ranks when a well- 
known professor, E. N. Horsford, set out to prove from the ancient 
Sagas that the site of the city of Norumbega, where all these industries 




STATUE OF LEIF ERIKSON AT MILWAUKEE. 



14 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

were located, with their dams, and docks, and wharves, could be no other 
than the city of Watertown, at the head of tide water, on the Charles 
river, Massachusetts. 

Undoubtedly, the Northmen of Iceland visited the shores of Amer- 
ica, but their romantic Sagas are dangerous geographical guides. Even 
should no other regions than those around Narragansett, or Boston Bay, 
answer the descriptions of Thorfinn's settlement, the ravages of the 
Black Plague placed an embargo upon the ships of the Vikings, which 
was never broken. Denmark also absorbed Norway, and Iceland with 
it. Plagues raged, volcanoes spouted, and the royal masters forbade the 
Norsemen of Iceland to have commerce with any foreign country. Had 
it not been for pestilence, volcano and royal command, by which a misty 
bond of union between Iceland and America was snapped, we might now 
be celebrnting the Eriksonian instead of the Columbian era. 

Some, however, who are not satisfied with commencing the era of 
our civilization with poor, abused, deluded, brave Columbus, point to the 
very name Norumbega, which so long adorned the maps, as a proof that 
we should consider ourselves the children of Norway and of Iceland. 
Various localities in Rhode Island indicate a Norse origin — so th'ey say. 
Norbega is the ancient name of Norway; but the Algonquin Indians, 
owing to a radical defect in their speech, were obliged to pronounce the 
country of the Norsemen, Nor'mbega, or Norumbega. But the advo- 
cates of a previous Celtic discovery of both Iceland and America find 
traces of the old British tongue and of the old British blood among the 
Indians of North America, Mexico and Central America. Our friends 
sometimes do allow that when they run down a Celtic word, or a blue 
eye, in an Indian wigwam, that it may be accounted for by the voyages 
of Prince Madoc and his followers, of Wales, who, according to the 
native bards, did not reach the far West until the twelfth century. As 
to the simple priority of discovering something, somewhere on the 
eastern coasts of North America, previous to the Columbian era, the 
fight seems to be between the Norse and the Irish champions. 

ANCIENT AMERICAN FATHERS. 

But was America first approached from the east? It is the most 
improbable theory that could be advanced; for, during the earliest his- 
toric ages of the world, the wealth and commerce of the universe were 
Asiatic and African. The geographical, the commercial and the enter- 
prising families were the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Indians and the 



ANCIENT AMERICAN FATHERS. 1 5 

Chinese. For centuries the Phoenicians were the carriers of the ancient 
world, bringing gold and spices from Eastern Africa and Asia. 

The Egyptians were the mathematicians, the astronomers, the geog- 
raphers who recorded all the discoveries and, like other journalists, they 
were subject to fits of romancing, when, in spite of all their travels and 
their pains, they could not obtain reliable information. Like the Chinese 
and the Japanese, they knew they were very ancient and were so proud of 
it that they sometimes invented history in order to put flesh upon their 
vast genealogical skeleton. When compared to the Egyptians, the 
Greeks were the veriest infants. This truth was forcibly impressed in 
the tales told by the solemn old priests of Egypt to such striplings as 
Solon and Herodotus, who came to the hoary land filled with the im- 
portance of their own country. When Egypt told of one of her dynas- 
ties which covered a period of more than 10,000 years, the Greeks 
doubtless paused for breath. When she coolly set out to prove that her 
first great ruler commenced his sway fully 249,000 years before their 
time, the Greek representatives doubtless had some of the conceit taken 
out of them. And before that calm, wise, solemn, bushy-browed old 
Egyptian priest narrated the story of Atlantis to Solon, the Athenian 
law-giver, he exclaimed: "Solon, Solon, you Greeks are but children, 
and an aged Greek there is none!" The tale was that 9,000 years 
previous there was a pathway of islands between Gibraltar and a vast 
Western Continent. One of these islands was held by so powerful a 
nation of warriors that they were about to invade Western Europe, when 
their land was plunged beneath the sea. The great Atlantis was lost, 
but it dissolved into such a body of mud as to forever make the ocean 
impassable and prevent one from reaching the Western Continent. 

Thus the story of Atlantis got into circulation and a Western Con- 
tinent came first to be mentioned to Europeans; and the tale had much 
to do with keeping before their eyes the picture of a vast, dark, haunted 
impassable Western Sea, which was their nightmare until Columbus 
opened their eyes. But the Eastern Seas had been sailed by Phoenicians 
and Egyptians centuries before the tale of Atlantis was ever breathed 
into the startled ear of a European; and there are leaders of cliques who 
find in the antiquities of Mexico, Central and South America, Phoenician 
letters, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Indian elephant heads; who are con- 
vinced, especially that the Montezumas whom Cortes conquered had 
Egyptian faces, as well as the Incas, whom Pizarro subdued. They 
find evidences, also, on monuments and elsewhere, that these mysterious 
Americans held Ethiopians as slaves. Very well, for the sake of peace 



1 6 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

at the Columbian Exposition, let it be granted that the ruling classes 
in the empires of Mexico and Peru were descendants of Phoeni- 
cian and Egyptian colonists. Those who refuse to beheve in such a 
possibility, who even reject Atlantis and yet are lovers of old age, may 
fall in with that other class, who turn upon all these special pleaders -and 
shout: "You know nothing about your Indians, your mound builders, 
your Mexicans or your Peruvians. They are products of American 
soil and have nothing to do with Africa, Asia or Atlantis. Like Topsy, 
they just grew. America is the Old World. Geology proves it. Asia 
was peopled by America." 

The Malays, too, have their patrons. In the early times, the brov/n- 
skinned sailors were bolder than they are now. Their boats were ves- 
sels in size and general appearance, venturing hundreds of miles 
from land. It is said "they used to construct decked vessels capable of 
carrying one or two hundred persons, with water and stores sufficient 
for a voyage of some weeks' duration. These vessels were made of 
planks well fitted and sewn together, the joints being calked and pitched. 
It is only in recent times that the construction of such vessels has ceased. 
The people had a knowledge of the stars, of the rising and setting of the 
constellations at different seasons of the year. By this means they 
determined the favorable season for making a voyage and directed their 
course." These facts and many others relating to the forefathers of the 
Malays are derived from a mass of historic legends which are still 
current among the people. 

The remains of massive structures of uncemented stone, found in the 
islands of the Pacific archipelagos, even Malayan tradition does not 
attempt to explain. From near Japan to the Easter Island — to within 
two thousand miles of the western shores of America, some mighty 
people has placed its monuments, colossal stone platforms, and gigantic 
statues, as marks of its advance eastward. These may be evidences 
that the modern natives are the degenerate race of these ancient builders. 
At all events it is natural that the nautical Malays, after they had reached 
the easternmost islands, should have ventured beyond them, or been 
driven to the shores of America. For centuries, Japanese barks have 
been thrown upon the Northern American c6asts, and the geographical 
conditions are all favorable for a constant interchange of people between 
Northeastern Siberia and Northwestern America. 

All of which is sufficient excuse, if there were no other, for the 
introduction of the Egyptians, the Syrians (who occupy ancient 
Phoenicia), the Malays, the Japanese and the Siberians. Further, of all 



ENTER THE AMERICAS. 1 7 

the empires of the far East, Japan is the most worthy of being- closely 
bound to America. She is of to-day as well as of yesterday. She will be 
seen at the Fair in all her wealth of decorative art. Egypt and China 
shall stand forth as an impressive contrast to modern civilization. In 
Australia an Anglo-Saxon state is crowding the remnants of barbarism 
into the desert and out of existence. India, on the other hand, is being 
breathed upon by the Anglo-Saxon, and is giving back to Europe and 
America various philosophies which were musty to her before he was 
born. And that is not all the excuse we have for acquainting the 
friends of the Exposition with the natives of India. Buddhism was born 
in India, and after being killed there by Brahmanism spread to Ceylon, 
Farther India, China, Central Asia, Northern Asia and America. 

Still preserved in the imperial archives of China is an account of a 
Buddhist priest, Hwui Shan, who, upon returning to China from the 
distant eastern country of Fusang, in 499 A. D., related to the emperor 
what he had seen on the way to that strange land and in the country it- 
self, as well as the distance and the route thither. Other historians take 
up the matter, becoming more and more definite as the centuries pass, 
a certain writer of the seventh century being so precise as to put all the 
Scandinavian romances to the blush. The Chinese distances are com- 
puted in li, which widely vary during different dynasties, but patient in- 
vestigators have taken the trouble to ascertain the equivalent of the 
measurement at the time the various accounts were written, and un- 
hesitatingly say that about the middle of the fifth century a party of 
Buddhist monks, of which Hwui Shan was one, sailed from China along 
its eastern coast, rounded Corea, took a northeasterly direction toward 
the southern point of Kamtchatka and the lower waters of Behring Sea 
to Alaska, and skirted the western shores of North America to Mexico. 

ENTER THE AMERICAS. 

Having introduced in the World's Fair those people who are con- 
nected by tradition, by historic evidence, or by both, with the discovery 
of America, or who will be with us, as friends and co-workers, in 1893, 
we next present (in the printed page) the native races of the Western 
Hemisphere. The engrafted European civilization is here kept in the 
background. The glorious Columbian era is brought out in the picture 
of the Exposition; now, also, the United States, the grandest product of 
the Discovery, comes from its chrysalis. In the superb features of the 
Columbian Exposition, may be read the history of the great republic, 
and a simple hint be gained of its unutterable possibilities. 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



THE CHANCE OF FOUR CENTURIES. 

Never before since Columbus was in chains and died in misery has 
the world been provided with such an occasion to right his wrongs. 
Every intelligent person sees that there must have been many — very 
many — pre-Columbian discoveries. Hwui Shan and Leif Erikson may 
have wrongs which should be righted. But we do not celebrate their 
discoveries, because nothing came of them. America was born the 
moment Columbus set foot upon an isle in the West Indies. The child 
did not die an infant, but the world has seen it continuously grow to 
gigantic youthhood. 

All honor and glory to the Columbian Exposition. Show to the 
world what Americans think of Columbus and his work. Vindicate him 
before the universe. Let everything for the moment revolve around 
that care-worn central figure Crown him! Shout his praises! Let us 
warm the world, not only toward America, but toward the father of 
America. 




COLUMBUS. 



THE SPANIARDS, 

THE BASQUES. 

afT?MH E RE are many speculations afloat regarding the Basques, 
^nll^^ who principally inhabit the three provinces which form a tri- 
l^^*^^ angle in Northwestern Spain, its base being the Bay of Biscay 
^^^^P^ on the north. At least several groups of scholars have settled 
^^^^ upon a common theory that the gypsies originally came from 
I^^J Northern India, but although the Basques have never been 
|y 01 really dislodged from their mountain homes and have seen the 
1 1 barbarians of Europe moulded into such peoples as the German, 
W English and French, and have withstood tides of conquest 
I which have swept over their country from the three conti- 
nents, the knotty point as to their origin is so far from being settled that 
scarcely half a dozen philologists and historians have reached the same 
conclusion. The provinces which they now occupy in Spain constitute 
the ancient Cantabria, which native historians claim had as its pioneers 
Tubal, the son of Japhet, and his family. From this point spread the 
aboriginal population of Europe. They furthermore claim that they 
speak the very language which Noah received from Adam. Certain it 
is that their language is peculiarly their own. They call themselves 
" Euscaldunac," their country "Euscaleria" and their language " Eus- 
cara." 

The Basques have been named as remnants of the people of the 
Lost Atlantis, as Tartars, Huns, Finns, Phoenicians, Berbers, Latins, 
and Iberians, who occupied the peninsula of France and Spain when the 
Celts invaded the country. From the subsequent fusion of Iberians 
(whoever they were) with the Celts arose the Celtiberians, who often 
were the enemies and sometimes the friends of ancient Rome. With 
them the mountaineers, or Basques, found it convenient to league them- 
selves. Augustus Caesar directed his troops against the Cantabrians. 
One of his armies was nearly starved, and a second narrowly escaped an 
ambuscade among the mountains. He was harassed on all sides by the 
hardy aborigines, and at one time retired in disgust But Rome 

19 



20 THE world's FAIR. 

was Stubborn as, well as great. The towns of the Basques were 
burned and they retreated to the mountains to watch the con- 
flagrations and wait for the Romans to attack them there. They 
fought like wild cats in the mountains, those who were captured 
submitting with grim determination to the most fearful tortures. The 
Romans built their forts among the mountains and the Basques at- 
tacked them from their natural fortifications. No Roman force could sally 
forth without being surprised by its unconquerable enemies. New 
confederations of the native warriors were formed. A whole Roman 
army was destroyed. The confederation was crushed for the time being, 
and thousands of prisoners marched in chains to Rome. Many of them 
escaped, returned to the Pyrenees and formed a new league. This was 
dispersed by Agrippa. At length the Celtiberians became subjects of 
Rome, leaving the Cantabrians still intrenched in the Western Pyrenees. 
They assisted the Romans against the Gallic tribes and were defeated 
by the Goths on the plains of Navarre. But neither Goth, Vandal nor. 
Moor dare pursue them to the mountains as did the Roman. They cut 
the Saracens to pieces and when Charlemagne's victorious army retired 
from the Ebro, his rear guard was attacked in a rocky valley and many 
of his bravest noblemen killed by the Basques. This brought upon them 
a series of conflicts, but the great King of the Franks could not crush 
them. 

The Basque provinces became allies of Castile and Aragon, and 
were incorporated into the kingdom, but they formed a confederation of 
small republics and with Navarre insisted for eight centuries upon retain- 
ing \k\&LX fueros, or charters, from the imperial government, by which they 
were guaranteed home rule and exempted from duties on imported 
merchandise and all royal monopolies. They were not subject to con- 
scription for the royal army and no royal troops entered their land with- 
out the permission of the home authorities. Even during the reigns of 
Charles V. and Philip II. these provinces, in spite of imperial encroach- 
ments upon popular government in other provinces, stood forth as a 
brave democracy within a kingdom. Until they organized the Don 
Carlos rebellion against the reigning house, the Basques continued to 
enjoy their bill of rights, but this act resulted, by the war which closed 
in 1876, in its final abolition. 

When these distinguished sons of the Pyrenees (for each Basque is 
a noble) are not proudly and unflinchingly defending their homes and 
their rights, a variety of occupations are open to them. They are said to be 
the first of the Europeans who went fishingfor whales, and even now their 
fisheries upon the coast employ many people. It was from this coast that 



THE BASQUES. 21 

the fishermen and explorers went forth (so claim their descendants) to 
discover Newfoundland. The assumption of the Venetian Cabots, father 
and son, whom history has credited with the discovery, is boldly scouted 
by the proud Cantabrians. 

Metals and marbles of various kinds vein their hills, and they are 
miners. A simple spade or fork is about the only agricultural imple- 
ment with which they cultivate their small farms of four or five acres. 
Wheat, barley and maize are harvested. Although the soil of the valleys 
even is not very rich, the Basque peasant is industrious and his lands 
will compare favorably with those in other portions of the kingdom. His 
hills are covered with oak, beech and chestnut, generally to the very sum- 
mit. The climate is mild and salubrious, and the country is picturesque. 

Besides being unlike any of the dialects of Southern Europe, the 
Basque language is so difficult to learn that there is a popular legend to 
the effect that Satan spent seven years in studying it and thoroughly 
mastered but three words. One might believe the story and admire his 
ability after being confronted with such native monstrosities as these : 
Tzarysaroyarenlurrearenbarena, or "the center of the mountain road," 
and Azpilcuetagaraycosaroyarenberecolarrea, or "the lower ground of 
the high hill of Azpilcueta." The Basques are of a poetic turn. Their 
bards attend the huskings and salute the washerwomen on the banks of the 
streams and the peasants at their plows, improvising pastorals and tell- 
ing stories and legends. Their theatres are built out from the mountains, 
and native tragedies and comedies are acted, which are pronounced 
remarkably vigorous and fresh. The poets also are honored with fes- 
tivals, in which they are escorted by a procession of horsemen in rich 
uniforms and great bear-skin caps, by musicians and dancers, to a plat- 
form or theatre, where they are happy to show their powers. Their amuse- 
ments, such as their pastoral dramas, are of a national character, the sub- 
jects being taken from the Bible, from Grecian mythology and even 
from Ottoman sources. Their dances, also, are institutions of the coun- 
try, such as the Olympian games in Greece. Formerly the priests took 
part in the excitements of the dance and the women were excluded ; 
now their positions are reversed. 

Such gatherings as these draw the Basques from plain, valley and 
mountain — the women with their superb masses of brown hair, their 
small hands and feet, and the men with their massive features, firm 
mouths, black eyes and dignified bearing. The peasant appears in his 
gala dress — a blue cap, dark velvet breeches, a red scarf around his 
loins and a gorgeous vest, while his pear tree-stick, pointed with iron, is 
slung by a cord to his wrist. 



22 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

The most favorite manly sport is hunting the wild pigeon. " High 
up in the tallest trees of the forest, huts of branches are constructed. 
These huts, around which are arranged decoys, which are made to flut- 
ter whenever a flock of pigeons is signaled, accommodate from four to 
six huntsmen, each one stationed in front of a loop-hole made so as to 
afford an enfilading shot, which will kill a number of birds at once. At 
the sound of the chief's whistle, there is a simultaneous fire and great is 
the carnage. In some quarters great nets are stretched among the trees, 
and the birds, scared by the rattles and by the decoy hawks of wood and 
feathers which are thrown at them, quicken their flight and rush help 
lessly into the snares." 

IGNATIUS LOYOLA. 

It is in the land of the Basques that Ignatius Loyola, the ardent, 
brave and worldly soldier, first saw this strange world so filled with 
transforming influences ; for the young soldier, fighting against the 
French, was wounded in both legs and was borne to his ancestral castle 
near the modern town of Azpeitia. Having exhausted his large supply 
of romances, the incapacitated soldier, in sheer desperation, fell back upon 
the " Lives of the Saints." But his active soul was fired, and from that 
time on, by a thorough course of study, by a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 
traveling generally on foot as a mendicant monk, by every possible 
course of thought, self-denial and industry he prepared himself to become 
the founder of that military order of Jesuits whose motto, P. A. C, 
indicates the complete submersion of the individual into the body; for 
P. A. C. {Perinde ac Cadaver) is " just like a corpse " and every Jesuit 
is sworn to obey the orders of his superior, as though he were clay in the 
potter's hands. 

The scene of Loyola's conversion is now a vast monastery, whose 
great dome is brought out with severe distinctness against a rocky mount, 
a short distance beyond. The unfinished wings of the mass of buildings 
give the imaginative, from a distance, the impression of a huge, imperfect 
eagle. Entering the vestibule from the peristyle, which has a semi-circu- 
lar front of black marble, plaster statues of Loyola, Xavier and other 
prominent Jesuits are observed. Passing into the church beneath figures 
of the Virgin and cherubs, one finds himself in a square, cold marble hall. 
" From the vestibule a door on one side opens into an arched passage, 
one side of which is formed by the house of Loyola, built of rough brick, 
and bearing over the door the inscription in gold letters on a black mar- 
ble slab: ' Family house of Loyola. Here St. Ignacio was born in 1491. 
Here, having been visited by St. Peter and by the most Holy Virgin, 



SPANISH GYPSIES, 



he gave himself to God in 1521." The apartment in which they are 
said to have appeared to Loyola forms an inner chapel of the church 
and is a shriiie to which thousands of the devout repair. Besides the 
inscription which has been noticed, the escutcheon of the Loyola family 
appears upon another marble slab, it being two wolves disputing over a 
cauldron suspended by a chain. The unfinished portion of the left wing 
of the monastery consists of a simple wall, which is built in front of the 
castle or house of the Saint. 

SPANISH GYPSIES. 

From the Pyrenees to Granada the Spanish gypsy Is on his travels^ 
camping by Phoenician, Carthaginian, Iberian, Roman, Gothic and 
Moorish fortresses ; pene- 
trating to Madrid with smug- 
glers and horse-thieves, but 
not of them ; wandering 
from Madrid to pick up the 
great mules of Western 
Spain and selling and trading 
them over again , curing 
men and horses of various 
distempers ; dancing, 
ing in Seville ; camping in i 
the rocky caves within a 
stone's throw of historic 
Granada ; tinkering, pilfer- 
i n g , fortune-telling — the 
Spanish gypsy is the gypsy 
of the world, the professional 
tramp who is not a vagrant, 
for he always has some osten- 
sible means of support. 

Seville, the birthplace 
of Murillo, the greatest of ;5panisn pamters, whose masterpieces 
adorn the walls of its grand churches, is also the headquarters 
of the gypsy musicians and dancers. Here will be found many set- 
tled people of their race, as in other towns of Spain, But the 
gypsy dancing girl is the interesting member of their community — 
she who exhibits to the eyes of Spain the harmony of the Hindu maiden 
and the Egyptian guitar, and glides about to the strains of old Grecian 
and Phoenician melodies. Little children are brought up to the same 



smg- -=r 




A GYPSY CHIEF. 

Spanish painters, whose 



24 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

perfection by ambitious elders, sometimes venerable grandmothers, who 
encourage their tiny bare feet with the guitar or castanets. 

It is not always for show and gain that the gypsies exhibit their 
accomplishments. Their marriage festivals are particularly boisterous 
and devoted to merry-making — music, song and dance. They have, 
also, their rude poets, whose themes are not always such as would com- 
mend themselves to classical tastes. Cattle-stealings, prison adventures 
and other incidents of wandering gypsy life, with tender bits of love 
ditties and pastoral scenes, quaint scraps and catches, are various themes 
and elements of their verse-making. 

On account of the disorganized condition of society in Spain, much 
of the time, her gypsies, when they permanently take to travel, are 
among the most reckless and unprincipled of their race. They fre- 
quently encamp near remote villages, and when they have consumed and 
stolen everything they can, pass on to the next. Frequently they are 
driven away by the authorities. Then the women and children mount 
the lean asses of the band, ragged and long-haired men goading and 
beating the poor animals to increase their speed, the rear of the uncouth 
cavalcade being guarded by a small party on strong horses, armed with 
guns and sabres, and now and then defiantly blowing a hoarse blast 
upon their horns. 

CADIZ. 

From the Basque provinces to Cadiz, on the Southwestern Spanish 
coast, is from ancient land to ancient city ; but as Cadiz is the great 
starting point of foreign colonization and foreign conquest, and as here 
was taken the next chronological step in the settlement of Spain, it is 
well to rest awhile at the little city by the ocean, standing there square, 
trim and clean. It is surrounded by a wall, its houses are built of white 
stone, and from the water sides, for it is upon a long narrow isthmus of 
an island, nothing can be more fresh in the shape of a city. Cadiz 
has strong sea and land fortifications, and its fine harbor has been 
the scene of conflicts between the Spaniards, English and French, 
between the Spaniards, Moors, Goths, Romans, Carthaginians and 
Phoenicians. The Phoenicians founded it over three centuries before 
the founding of Rome and the ruins of one of their temples is there. 
From Phoenician to Carthaginian, from Carthaginian to Roman, from 
Roman to Vandal, from Vandal to Goth, from Goth to Moor, before 
they all were merged into the Spaniard, is the usual order of ownership 
for the sea-ports of Spain and for most of the country, varied somewhat 
by the position of the district. 



CARTHAGE IN SPAIN. 25 

CARTHAGE IN SPAIN. 

Across Southern Spain, on the Mediterranean Is another fortified 
town, built on a plain surrounded by hills, the city stretching down to the 
sea. The entrance to its spacious harbor is narrow and is commanded 
by the fortifications on an island to the south. Its old streets, its old 
cathedral and its ruined castle on the hill are Moorish in the extreme, but 
the Moors only restored that city to something of its former magnifi- 
cence, which was the stronghold of the Carthaginians on the northern 
coast of the Mediterranean, and which was stormed and captured by 
the Romans 210 B.C. Thirty years previous it had been named 
New Carthage, and was designed as the Carthaginians' base of opera- 
tions in Europe against the Romans. Before that time Phoenicians 
had planted a fortress and a lighthouse upon a rock overhanging 
the city, in whose sides these bold colonists had found numerous 
caves in which lived the savage aborigines. Under Rome it was 
a city of wealth and importance, 40,000 men being employed in the 
neighboring mines of Tharsis, which formed the attraction of the 
Phoenicians. The Goths sacked the city, and even under Spanish rule 
it was the largest naval arsenal in Europe. But now the place is dilap- 
idated, its dockyards and arsenal are deserted, and only a few walls 
remain of the Carthaginian fortress held by the family of Hannibal, or of 
the lighthouse which guided the ships to the Tarshish of Scripture, lying 
at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. 

" Local tradition declares that a superb piece of tapestry in the old 
dismantled cathedral was brought back from the Indies by Christopher 
Columbus on his first voyage, and was suspended there by him as a 
grateful recognition of God's mercy, in the presence of Ferdinand and 
Isabella. This is not quite exact. The truth seems to be that the 
tapestry was paid for by the gold which Columbus brought back with 
him, and that it represents the birds and beasts, the fruits and flowers 
of the New World, as far as he could describe them. That it was sus- 
pended by Columbus seems certain, attested as it is by the familiar 
escutcheon and legend which are placed over it. It will scarcely be 
credited that the cathedral is rapidly falling into ruins, and that the 
tapestry is rotting from the walls." 

SPANISH MOROCCO. 

The territory lying between these ancient towns and between the 
Guadalquivir River and the Mediterranean Sea is what may be called 
the Morocco of Spain. In Granada (which was the last of the Moslem 



26 THE world's FAIR. 

kingdoms to fall) and Castile are, in fact, to be found about 00,000 
people who have kept their Moorish blood singularly pure, being known 
as Modejars. Despite the Inquisition, the banishments and burn- 
ings, the Moors not only remain, but they have impressed many of their 
customs upon the country. 

"In Toledo, in Cordova, in Granada, or in the older parts of Seville, 
it would be easy to believe oneself in a Moorish or Egyptian town. The 
narrow streets are inclosed by high walls, almost windowless, and perfo- 
rated by only a single low door. Everything looks gloomy and sombre. 
But peep through the iron grating which protects the doorway, and you 
will see 2, patio bright with flowers and fountains and greenery. The 
windows of the chambers open into this quadrangle, and the inmates can 
enjoy light and air, bright sunshine and cool shade, without leaving the 
seclusion of their houses or being exposed to the gaze of any not belong- 
ing to the family. This style of architecture has been handed down 
directly from the Moors. And in numberless details of dress and daily 
life the same influence may be traced. The mantilla which forms the 
head-dress of almost every woman in Spain, is simply a relic of the veil 
universally worn by the wives and daughters of the Moslem. Wander 
into the outskirts of any town in Spain, and you will hardly fail to stum- 
ble upon groups of ragged, picturesque varlets, lying at full length upon 
some sunny bank, sunning themselves just as a group of Bedouins would 
do. Go out into the country, and you will hear the creaking of the 
waterwheel and see the patient oxen treading their ceaseless round, 
turning the ponderous machine, which has come down unchanged from 
the days of the Moors. The peasants of Andalusia, Murcia and Granada 
are seldom to be seen without a long staff, which they grasp and carry 
exactly as an Arab does his spear. The velvet hat of the Spanish majo 
is clearly a reminiscence of the turban. In private houses, hotels and 
cafes servants are summoned by clapping the hands as in the Arabian 
Nights." 

In the mettle, grace and docility of the horses of Andalusia, also, 
are seen the strong points of the Arabian steeds. Since the country 
was stocked by the Moors with their finest breeds they have somewhat 
degenerated ; still enough specimens of the famous stock remain to 
remind one of the Moorish rule. Since the decline in wealth and mag- 
nificence of the Spanish nobility, the demand for blooded horses has 
decreased. The celebrated breed of the sovereigns of Spain at Cordova 
is nearly extinct, and the wealthiest Andalusian nobles have only a few 
saddle horses. The noble Arabian steed, the pride of the Moor and the 
native sheik, is disappearing before the mules and asses which are used for 



SEVILLE. 27 

domestic, agricultural and transportation purposes. Immense droves of 
these animals are continually passing from Old Castile, where they are 
bred, to the rich pastures of Estremadura, where they are reared, and 
supplied to the rest of Spain, principally for transportation purposes. 
The asses even rival those of Egypt, being sure-footed, strong and docile, 
and nearly equal in size to the mules. 

SEVILLE. 

In fact, from Seville and the banks of the Guadalquivir to the 
Mediterranean Sea, the Arabs of Morocco have buried Phoenician, 
Roman and Gothic civilizations. Although the native place of the 
Roman Emperors Trajan, Adrian and Theodosius, called by Caesar 
Little Rome, and adorned by great edifices worthy of a favorite child of 
the empire, Seville is a purely Moorish city. The capital of Southern 
Spain during the ascendency of the Vandals and the Goths, it is still dis- 
tinctively Moorish. A few miles away are the ruins of a magnificent 
Roman amphitheatre — all that remains of the palaces and ambitious 
structures of half a dozen Roman emperors and conquerors. 

Time has not buried Rome completely out of sight, here in Moor- 
land. Massive stones of the amphitheatre now confine the waters of the 
Guadalquivir and appear in the walls of a neighboring convent, while 
during the five centuries that the Moors held Seville the city was rebuilt 
from the materials of former Roman edifices. Certain quarters of the city- 
have not been changed, and one may there find cool shadows cast across 
the narrow, crooked streets, from spacious mansions, with ample courts 
and gardens. Attached to the mighty Spanish cathedral of Seville is a 
remarkable Moorish tower, to which a lofty pinnacle has been added 
since the city came under the Spanish rule. The tower formerly was 
part of a great Mohammedan mosque. It is now a portion of the 
Catholic church, within which are paintings by Murillo, whose house may 
be seen from it. Surmounting the pinnacle, 350 feet from the ground, 
is a female figure in bronze, fourteen feet high, which serves as a weather- 
vane and which is so nicely poised that it is swerved by the slightest 
breeze. 

The Alcazar, originally a Moorish palace, has been remodeled until 
it is a rival of the Alhambra in delicate ornamentation. It is the royal res- 
idence, and a royal one, truly. At a little distance from the palace is an 
octagonal tower, partly Moorish and partly Roman in its architecture; it 
is called the Tower of Gold. One story is that Columbus stored therein 
the first American gold ; on the other hand, it is alleged that the name 
was given to it long before Columbus ever set sail from Palos. 



28 THE world's FAIR. 

But the Seville of to-day is not the capital of a Moorish kingdom 
with half a million people. Although when Ferdinand of Castile passed 
in as a conqueror, 300,000 Moors passed out, bound for Granada and 
Africa, it continued a great city until the discovery of America, when it 
almost reached its former plane of prosperity. Cadiz afterwards seized 
its trade, and with the decline of Spain as a commercial power Seville 
fell with it. It is still a beautiful city, surrounded by Moorish walls and 
Moorish towers. 

Seville was, furthermore, the headquarters of the Inquisition in 
Spain, but it was not until the Reformation, from Germany, commenced 
to send its New Testaments into Spain and make converts that it was 
brought to bear with such shocking cruelty upon the people. Single 
executions were thought inadequate to suppress the heresy, and the 
autos da fe, or public burnings, were inaugurated at Valladolid and 
Seville, and spread over the land. Barcelona, Cordova, and others 
had, also, their gloomy prisons of the Inquisition filled with heretics 
until emptied by the autos da fe. Ten years of such vigorous war 
stamped out Protestantism. 

. CORDOVA. 

Ascending the river from Seville, a mass of sad-looking buildings is 
occasionally seen through the intervening groves of palm and olive trees, 
The road to the city is through gardens of roses, oranges, oleanders, 
with all the foliage of the Orient to give them a rich shading. As Cor- 
dova is approached — so long the capital and center of the great Moorish 
empire — its wall even has a patched and dejected air, traces of Roman, 
Gothic and Moorish workmanship being found in it. Cordova was for 
three centuries one of the grandest centers of commerce and of a civil- 
ization far in advance of the rest of Europe ; a sublime city of mosques, 
hospitals, schools and palaces, the banks of the Guadalquivir being lined 
with extensive gardens in which were innumerable fountains, palm trees, 
and Oriental pavilions. Cordova was the metropolis of the industrious 
race which made Southern Spain bloom like a garden ; which laid out 
her rich plains Into sugar, rice and cotton plantations ; which brought in 
chemistry, paper, elegant manufactures, and the numerical system which 
we use to-day. Each garden whose orange and citron groves were 
reflected In the clear waters of the Guadalquivir was the haunt of the 
botanist. Like the Jews, the Moors were famous physicians. They 
taught medicine, astronomy, mathematics and philosophy when the rest 
of Europe was just emerging from primitive ignorance, so that the 
schools of Cordova educated the Christians of all nations, who sought the 



learning- of the East which the Arabs had brought from Egypt, India, 
Persia and Asia Minor, via Morocco. The expulsion of the Moors and 
the Jews was a blow to Spain whose effects can never be entirely coun- 
teracted. 

The only striking architectural monument of this great empire 
which remains in its now lifeless capital is a superb mosque, which was 
built by the first caliph of the Spanish Moors after they rebelled against 
the rule of the Damascus princes. This able and amiable monarch, shel- 
tered by the Bedouins of Arabia and Africa from his Damascus enemies, 
was chosen by the sheiks as the leader of the Moors in Spain. It was 
in the middle of the eighth century that he landed on the coast of 
Andalusia, and commenced his tri- 
umphal march to Seville and Cor- 
dova. In his person were united 
the performances of the future. 
He it was who transplanted the 
palm into Spain. His mosque ab- 
sorbed the talent and skill of the 
most expert architects, masons and 
workmen among the Arabs and 
Jews — in fact, the genius of the age 
was lavished upon its interior. To 
inspire enthusiasm, as well as to 
instill a spirit of humility and piety 
into the work, its princely founder 
is said to have daily labored with 
hod and trowel. Marbles came to 
form its beauties from the ancient 
temples of Europe, Asia and Africa, 
and when all was ready the Islam 
monarch looked upon what might^ 
be a stately grove of palm trees, 

their trunks taking every hue of ~ il '""^^ 

the rainbow and their branches and a Spanish girl. 

leaves lost in the profusion, of the Arabesque decorations and vault- 
ed roofs. From the center of the building naves run in all direc- 
t/ons. The Holy of Holies, where the Koran was deposited, was a 
recess roofed with a carved block of marble, lined with rich mosaics, and 
the cornices inscribed with Moslem texts in letters of gold. This inde- 
scribable sanctuary has not suffered at the hands of later architects, and 
is all the more impressive standing out in its ancient perfection from the 




30 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

Catholic cathedral whose founders have generally covered the ornamen- 
tations and inscriptions of Islam with thick paint and whitewash. Other 
appropriate alterations have been made, which, however, greatly mar 
this grandest of the monuments of Moorish Mohammedanism. 

THE GARDENS OF SPAIN. 

Not only did the Moors bring the palm tree into Spain ; but soon 
rice and sugarcane were products of the country ; groves of mulberry 
and banana trees were waving ; and the almond, fig, orange, 
citron, pomegranate and pineapple were flourishing like native 
growths. The cactus also was given root, and not only run riot in the 
south, but became a striking garden ornament. It is in the gardens of 
Spain, in fact, as much as in the architecture, that the Moors have left 
their impress. Even without the flat-roofed buildings, the fountains and 
the arabesque work, when one wanders in these gardens which are in 
and around nearly every old town of Central and Southern Spain, and 
which are profusions of tropical foliage and fruit, the air laden with fra- 
grance, dates overhead, oranges and lemons within reach, he can scarcely 
beheve himself in Europe. 

In some cities which are but ghosts of their former greatness, broad 
tracts which have been deserted and which once supported palaces, 
mosques or manufactories, are now planted, not only to tropical fruits, 
but to the apple, peach, plum and pear. But they flourish equally well 
as do wheat, maize and barley, with the grains of the tropics 

In fact, nature has made Spain one of the most productive of coun- 
tries, but the Spaniard, since the exit of the Moor, has not improved 
his opportunities. His neglect is partly owing to the fact that the 
Spanish nobility own immense tracts of land, which they are unable to 
cultivate, but hold from generation to generation. The farmers them- 
selves are generally so poor that even the smaller holdings are covered 
with mortgages. As an instance of the disregard in which their rights 
are held by the government, it is said that the proprietors of large flocks 
of Merino sheep, passing through the country, are privileged to drive 
their animals not only over village pastures but over private lands. 
The farmers are obliged to provide a broad passage way for these lordly 
sheep owners, " and no new enclosure can be made in the line of their 
migrations ; nor can any land which has once been in pasture be again 
cultivated until it has been offered to them at a certain rate," Improved 
methods of agriculture, however, are being introduced by foreign capi- 
tal, and the fertile plains of Granada, Murcia and Valencia, in some 



THE GOTHIC-ROMAN PRINCES. 3 1 

places still irrigated through the old Moorish water works, are being 
carefully and intelligently cultivated. 

Another branch of husbandry in which the Spaniards engage, but 
with their usual carelessness, is the cultivation of the vine. Yet, to a 
great extent, the natural advantages of the regions adjacent to the 
ocean and sea coasts of Southern and Southeastern Spain have counter- 
acted Spanish laxity. The most famous wine is the sherry, which 
comes from the district around Cadiz. Nearly all the brands which 
leave that port for Great Britain and this country are light, dry, table 
wines, containing naturally considerable alcohol and made more spirit- 
uous by additions from other fermented vintages, pure spirits, and decoc- 
tions and preparations drawn from over-ripe grapes. The choicest wines 
of the Cadiz district never reach the palates of foreign consumers, but 
are generally mixed with poorer sorts, which are thus mellowed and col- 
ored into all the outward appearance of the finest grades. There is a 
" mother of wine " as there is " a mother of vinegar," which is used to 
impart bouquet and color to cheap liquors, and although when it has 
been years in preparation, the stock being always kept up, it is abso- 
lutely disgusting to the taste, it becomes so potent in imparting the best 
qualities of " the true sherry " that a butt of it commands from ;^8oo 
to ;^ 1,000. 

The country between Malaga and Granada, in Andalusia, is the 
home of the Malaga raisins and the Malaga wines. Three crops of 
grapes come annually from the vineyards of the Sierra Nevada moun- 
tains, the first being worked up into raisins and the other two into dry 
and sweet wines. Strong, dark wines are made from the grapes of Mur- 
cia and Valencia, the latter province having the best reputation. Of the 
Valencia wines, the Alicante stand at the head, being sometimes almost 
as thick and rich as syrup. Northern Spain is a wine-raising territory, 
but has no more than a local reputation. 

No, the wines of Spain can not be attributed to the Arabs ; for the 
Koran prohibits wine. The Goths, however, were drinkers of wine, and 
into the land of the Goths we now go. 

THE GOTHIC-ROMAN PRINCES. 

The Moors drove the Goths far beyond Cordova, far beyond the 
great chain of Sierra Morena mountains, which stretch a mighty barrier 
across the whole of Southern Spain. This they surmounted, and through 
the rocky passes of the Sierra Toledo they also swept, besieging mighty 
Toledo itself, the capital of the kingdom of the Goths. Their victorious 
course lay from the battle-fields northeast of Cadiz over half a dozen 



32 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

Stupendous mountain chains to the plain of Tours, where the Franks 
turned them back into Spain. For three centuries the Moors flourished, 
except in extreme Northern Spain, the Guadalquivir River, however, 
marking the center of their greatest glory ; but the rival Mohammedan 
factions in Morocco continually carried their wars into Spain, and by the 
early part of the eleventh century they broke the caliphate of Cordova 
into pieces, the fragments reappearing as small kingdoms. Although 
driven north the Christian princes were left to fight among themselves, 
the Moslems giving their strength to the country of the Franks and the 
islands of the Mediterranean to the east of Spain ; it was, without doubt, 
the dream of the Mohammedans of the West to join hands with the 
Mohammedans of the East and establish a mighty kingdom around the 
shores of the Mediterranean. But while the Mohammedans of Spain 
were a prey to internal dissensions the Gothic-Roman princes of the 
North buried their differences under the cover of a common cause. In the 
latter half of the eleventh century the King of Castile (now known as 
Old Castile) recovered Toledo, making it his residence and naming his 
territory New Castile. The capital of New Castile then became the 
base of operations for the Christian princes of the North against the 
Mohammedan states of the South, and afterward was the capital of 
Spain. 

TOLEDO. 

Between high and rocky banks the Tagus rushes around the rugged 
hills upon which the city stands, leaving only one approach by land. 
When Alfonso took the city he found this closed by a sturdy wall 
repaired four centuries before his time by the Gothic King, Wamba, the 
original structure being Roman. Beyond this he placed another wall, 
both of which stand with the ruined fortress of Alcazar — haunted by 
the ghosts of Roman, Moorish and Spanish architects — to tell of the 
rise and fall, the retreat and advance, of the races of men. From the 
center of the silent, gloomy city, rises the massive cathedral, surrounded 
by churches and convents, nearly all of which occupy the sites of old 
Mosques or Jewish synagogues. Many historians, in short, claim that 
Toledo was founded by Jewish colonists six centuries B. C, and at the 
time of the invasion of Spain by the Moslems, it is said that in the 
neighborhood of the city an Arab general found the original table of 
shewbread, adorned with hyacinths and emeralds, made by Solomon and 
secreted by the Jews when the treasures of the temple were carried by 
Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. The oldest of the synagogues now stand- 
ing was built in the ninth century under the tolerant rule of the Moors; 



GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA. 



33 



other synagogues have been transformed into churches, but this one, 
whose ceiHng is believed to have been constructed of the cedars of 
Lebanon, was used as a cavalry stable during the French occupancy and 
is now quite deserted. 

Two miles from the city walls, with their remarkable towers and 
gates, stands a great building, the royal sword manufactory, a remem- 
brance only of the days when the Toledo blades were so famous as to be 
thought worthy of the pen of Livy. 

About a century after Toledo became the capital of Castile, another 
Alfonso, joined by the Kings of Aragon, Navarre, Leon and Portugal^ 
marched southward across La Mancha, which Cervantes was to make 
famous, and met on the plains of Tolosa, in the Sierra Morena, one o£ 
the greatest armies which the Mos- 
lems had ever sent against the 
Christians. The Mohammedan dy- 
nasty which had built its power 
upon the dismembered caliphate of 
Cordova was crushed, and from its ' 
death sprung into life the last of the ' 
noted Moorish kingdoms — that of 
Granada. 

GRANADA AND THE 

ALHAMBRA. 

The succeeding history, before 
the country was united, consists of 
a gradual absorption by Castile and 
Aragon of the Moorish and Christ- 
ian states, a healing of their jeal- 
ousies by the marriage of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella and the final 
conquest of Granada, which had sustained the assaults of Christian 
foes for two hundred years. The gateway into the fertile kingdom 
is from the west across the broad plain of Vega, bordered on 
the south by the snow-capped Sierra Nevadas, which cool the hot 
breezes from the south into delightful freshness. One of the mountain 
spurs stretches out into the plain, at the foot of which, upon two hills, 
rests the last stronghold of the Moors, the center of that last grand 
civilization from which even the opulent cities of Italy drew much of 
their prosperity. Upon one of the hills which formed the city's site rose 
the royal palace and fortress of the Alhambra, surrounded by gardens^ 




GATE OF THE ALHAMBRA. 



34 THE world's fair, 

and containing everything which might enable the monarchs of Granada 
to enjoy themselves in fancied security. Although since the year's siege 
by the King and Queen of Spain, which resulted in the fall of Granada, 
the Alhambra has been disfigured and pillaged, remodelled, many of its 
ancient towers blown up, etc., etc., in ruins it has aroused the enthusiasm 
of the lovers of the beautiful from every land. Without, a city of towers 
and massive walls ; within, still a succession of marble, alabaster and 
cedar halls, ornamented with arabesques and stucco-work of mother-of- 
pearl, ivory and silver, beautiful fountains within playing musically to 
the soft breezes without — the Alhambra is all that the fair pens of a 
score of Washington Irvings could picture it. 

The Alhambra is divided by a narrow glen from the Generalife, 
another Moorish palace surrounded with gardens and fountains. Its 
towers are taller and lighter than those of the Alhambra and it stands 
upon a loftier height ; for it was the summer palace of the Granada 
Kings. 

From the Alhambra and the Generalife the grand panorama of 
Granada is spread in all its variety ; the broad plain formerly teeming 
with the riches of the temperate zone and the tropics ; the mountains 
with the ruins of fortified towns and solitary castles stretching toward the 
west ; the Xenil winding through orchard, garden and grove, and from 
the south bright streams coming down the Sierra Nevada. It is the 
Granada of old with the life of man gone out of it. 

SOUTHERN AND EASTERN COASTS. 

Skirting the coast of Spain from Cadiz, the first port of interest 
going east is Palos, a sleepy enough little town, but in 1491, when Colum- 
bus stopped at the convent of La Rabida, near that port, it boasted the 
most enterprising mariners in all Spain. The great discoverer had 
determined to start for Cordova, on his way to France, being weary of 
the delays with which he met in Spain, but stopping at the gate of the 
convent to ask for some bread and water for his boy, the prior became 
interested in him and his dazzling enterprise, obtained for him a personal 
interview with Ferdinand and Isabella, and the Spaniards, instead of the 
French, were enabled to claim the discovery of America as their honor. 
Columbus sailed from Palos. The dilapidated town is still there, and 
between it and the sea shore is the old convent whose prior played so 
important a part in the discovery of America. 

With its galleries tunneled through the rock on the north front, 
through which hundreds of huge guns frown at the bay and command the 



SOUTHERN AND EASTERN COASTS. 



35 



sandy isthmus which connects English with Spanish soil, looms the huge 
promontory of Gibraltar. Barracks, fortresses and batteries on the 
summit and west side, on which are the bay and town, the descent being 
precipitous on the remaining sides, is a matter-of-fact, dry description 
of a very matter-of-fact sort of an institution. It would be useless to 
describe more fully that great fortress which stands as an index of the 
English character, and upon which thousands of English writers have 
cast their artillery of adjectives. 

During the prevalence of the southwest winds vessels compelled to 
leave Gibraltar often sail to the fine port of Malaga, a dazzling city of 

white houses,commanded by one 
of those massive Moorish castles 
which become tiresome in the 
mere telling but are ever fasci- 
nating in the seeing. Some say 
Malaga was founded by the Ibe- 
rians. Others suppose the name 
to be the Phoenician for salt fish, 
which was one of its most famous 
Malaga is now best 
as the city from which 
the muscatel raisins, as 
any the world knows 
Olive oil and sugar are 
also largely exported. Malaga, 
in fact, despite her Moorish air 
and ancient castle, is in the active 
current of to-day. 

Coasting along the shores of 
PEASANT OF EASTERN SPAIN. Granada, with the Sierra Nevadas 

in the distance, and passing numbers of villages which formerly saw the 
vessels of many nations bound for their prosperous capital, Cartagena is 
reached, and, if the traveler desires, on this former borderland of Moorish 
territory he may take a trip inland by railway to Murcia, the capital of 
the province. " Lying out of the route of travelers it is almost unvisited, 
and having little commerce except with the peasantry of its fertile huerta, 
it retains its old costumes, manners and customs with even more than 
Spanish tenacity. The men wear a tartan plaid, like that of a Scotch 
shepherd, only more brilliant in color. The women greatly afifect bright 
yellow and scarlet, and even the poorest contrive to interweave a few 
flowers into their hair. The costumes through the whole of the eastern 




exports, 
known 
go out 
fine as 
about. 




SPANISH HARMONY. 



THE CID. , 37 

provinces are very strange and very Moorish. Hempen sandals take the 
place of shoes ; the legs are either bare or covered by a footless cotton 
stocking. In many districts the peasantry wear very wide calico drawers, 
reaching down to the knees and looking like a short petticoat, and a 
close-fitting jacket covered with spangles and embroidery. The plaid 
is commonly substituted along this coast for the mantle patronized by 
the Castilians." 

THE CID. 

Northward from Murcia to the river Ebro and clear across Spain to 
Portugal is the broad scene of action of Spain's greatest national hero, 
the CidCampeador.or Lord Champion. The title "Cid" came from the 
Moors and the "Campeador" from his own countrymen; for in the 
course of his romantic life he fought with and against the Moorish kings. 
But with whomsoever he cast the weight of his mighty arms that mon- 
arch triumphed. At length, banished by a Christian king, he joined 
the Moorish kings of Saragossa, in whose service he fought against 
both Moslems and Christians. Though his fame spread over Europe 
and the brilliancy of his exploits was such that he became in imagina- 
tion a modern Hercules with an invincible sword, in order to maintain 
his family and his followers he was forced to turn against his former 
allies, and, after a stubbornly contested siege of ten months, he wrested 
Valencia from the Moors. The Cid was promptly besieged, in turn, by 
a great army of Moors. As they lay encamped beneath the walls of 
Valencia, tradition represents him as coolly leading his terrified wife and 
daughters to one of the towers, where they could see the Moslem host 
below, and all around them a mighty grove or garden of citrons, oranges, 
and palms. Assuring his family of victory he collected his handful of 
followers and giving battle to the Moorish troops defeated them and 
drove them from the city. The tower of Miguelete is pointed out as 
the point from which he looked over his fair and newly-acquired prov- 
ince, covered with grain and rice fields and thick with palm and mul- 
berry trees, and so confidently predicted his usual victory. 

The city is still the center of a fertile region, ingeniously watered 
by a system of pipes and rivulets, perfected by the Moors eight centuries 
ago. It is a pleasant walled city with macadamized streets, with old 
gloomy houses and new bright ones painted blue, rose and cream 
color, with picture galleries illustrative of the famous Valencian school, 
and, all in all, one of the several Spanish cities which is wide awake. 
Both the Cid and his wife ruled over ancient Valencia, which was an old 
city before Pompey took and destroyed it and it was rebuilt by the 



38 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

Romans. Alicante, although an important and picturesque port of the 
province of Valencia, is not of interest, historically. 

For some distance above Valencia, along the coast, Roman settle- 
ments are constantly obtruding themselves. A short ride from the city 
is a modest enough looking town, standing upon a hill near the mouth of 
a small river. Its site was the ancient, opulent Saguntum, whose heroic 
citizens, having beaten off, for many long months, Hannibal's great army 
of 150,000 men, at length in despair placed the women and children 
around a vast heap of valuables. When, from their elevated post the 
wives, sisters and daughters saw their famished protectors being cut to 
pieces by the fierce, well-fed Carthaginians they set fire to the pile, and, 
with their children, cast themselves into the welcome embrace of the 
flames. The siege and destruction of Saguntum brought upon the 
Carthaginians the Second Punic war. Few traces of its former great- 
ness remain, the Temple of Diana (relic of its Grecian founders) and the 
Roman amphitheatre having been used for fortifications during the 
Peninsula war. 

BARCELONA. 

All along to Barcelona are scattered fragments of Roman works, 
indicating where were once imperial cities, overrun by Vandals, Goths 
and Moors, and used by Spaniards for the building material of modern 
towns and farm houses. Next to Cadiz, Barcelona is the most import- 
ant sea port in Spain, and during the middle ages, except by Genoa, it 
stood unrivaled on the Mediterranean. Barcelona has also been called 
the " Athens of the Troubadours," as an evidence that it was a favorite 
resort of the courtly poets and scholars of the middle ages, as well as 
the princely mercantile classes. It was a favorite resort of Ferdinand 
and Isabella, and here they received Columbus after his discovery of 
America. The most important manufacturing city in Spain, Barcelona 
is also a beautiful place, the old and new districts being separated by 
the Rambla, a dry river bed, which has been planted with flowering 
shrubs and made into an attractive promenade. 

THE ROMANS AND THE CELTS. 

From Barcelona west, through Northern Spain, is traversed the 
stronghold of the old Gothic power, which, at last, became the basis of 
the Spanish state. We are now within sight of the Pyrenees, spurs 
from the main body running down into the provinces of Catalonia and 
Aragon to form green, pleasant valleys. In the western part of Cata- 
lonia is a military stronghold, Lerida, which guards the approach from 



THE ROMANS AND THE CELTS. , 39 

the north to the districts of Eastern Spain, and from the south to some 
of the most convenient passes into France. It is a gloomy-looking 
town, with the usual accompaniments of a fortified place, but even 
before the time that Scipio Africanus defeated Caesar in the neighboring 
plain, it was considered by the Romans an important strategic point in 
the possession of their Spanish conquests. Before the Romans came 
the Celtiberians had discovered the advantages of the position, and it 
was undoubtedly the site of one of their primitive towns. 

Lerida is on a branch of the Ebro, and further west, in the center 
of old Aragon, and upon the muddy river itself, is Saragossa, the Celti- 
berian Salduba and the Roman Caesarea Augusta. The Moors took it 
from the Goths, and although they held it for three centuries they re- 
tained it during a continuous siege of five more years, during which 
famine nearly depopulated the city. Seven centuries afterwards Sara- 
gossa, defended by the heroic Duke Palafox, sustained for eight months 
one of the most bravely and brilliantly contested sieges of modern times, 
the French being the investing parties. It has been a city of sieges, and 
seems to have exhausted its strength in sustaining them so stubbornly. 
Its palaces are ever crumbling away, having been partially destroyed or 
weakened by the heavy ordnance of modern guns, and those which show 
evidences that they are substantial have been deserted by the nobility. 
" These buildings, rich in finely carved decorations and magnificent cor- 
nices, are now mostly inhabited by agriculturists of a rude class, their 
spacious courts converted into farm yards and filled with manure." 
Massive and elegant churches and convents are yet standing, however, 
to give the city an imposing appearance from the distance, which impres- 
sion is not borne out by a nearer inspection. 

One of its cathedrals — the Church of Our Lady of the Pillar — 
commemorates the pretended miracle by which the Virgin Mary was 
brought from Heaven upon a pillar of jasper that she might encourage 
St. James, whom she had sent to Spain to preach the Gospel. The pillar 
and her heavenly image are still shown to the crowds of pilgrims who 
press from all parts of Spain toward the jeweled church and the sacred 
relics which it incloses. 

When we cross the bounds of Aragon into Old Castile we enter a 
district made memorable by the stubborn stand which the Celtiberians 
made against the armies of Rome sent to subdue the troublesome 
aborigines. Near the site of the present town of Soria the Roman 
legions under Scipio assaulted and besieged their chief town. This was 
but the last scene in a series of bloody conflicts which its citizens had 
sustained for twenty years. For fifteen months 60,000 disciplined 



40 THE world's fair. 

soldiers stormed, besieged and starved these ancient heroes, who from 
8,000 slowly melted into a pitiful band, before the town was taken and 
destroyed. 

The traveler has also set foot upon the native land of the Cid and 
begins to enter the territory wherein, after Napoleon's disastrous 
campaign in Russia, were enacted the closing scenes of the Peninsula 
War between his lieutenants and the Duke of Wellington. The birth- 
place of the Spanish hero was Burgos, the capital of Old Castile, where 
his remains, with those of his heroic wife, are laid. Their sculptured 
figures lie together upon a square sarcophagus at San Pedro de Cardena, 
while, for a small fee a wooden box and a bottle will be exhibited at Burgos, 
in which are kept the bones of the Cid and the ashes of his wife. This 
city, which was so long the center of the shifting league against the Moors, 
which, with the Cantab rians to the north, held Northwestern Spain 
against their Moslem foes, is now a dull and gloomy city, with a noble 
Gothic cathedral, picturesque and stately beggars, and various chapels 
rich in fine sculpture and tombs. 

Across Old Castile and Galicia to the northwest of Spain is a long 
run, and only to reach a bustling, fortified seaport on the Atlantic coast ; 
but it has a monument to Sir John Moore, who fell while fighting the 
French on the heights behind the town, being buried on the ramparts in 
his military cloak. First Philip sailed from Coruna, this seaport town, 
on his way to marry Mary of England, and over thirty years thereafter 
he embarked with the great Armada to conquer the country which he 
could not obtain by marriage. 

THE MECCA OF SPAIN. 

A short distance from Coruna was a cathedral which was, for cent- 
uries, an even greater shrine than the Church of Our Lady of the Pillar 
at Saragossa. It is declared that after St. James was beheaded he set sail 
from Joppa, the seaport of Jerusalem, either in a boat or his stone coffin, 
and landing on this coast his body was mysteriously deposited in a cave, 
where, after remaining for half a dozen centuries or more, it was drawn 
to the city of Santiago, where the cathedral was built and pilgrimages 
were instituted. He therefore often came to the assistance of the 
Spaniards in their wars against the infidels, and to the battle-cry of St. 
James was added " Santiago." The archbishop's palace, cloister and 
cathedral form the most imposing of Santiago's structures. They cover 
nearly four acres of ground, and into the foundations of the cathedral are 
believed to be built the bones of St. James. Besides those occupied the 
town contains numbers of convents and nunneries in ruins. 



VALLAOOLID. 



41 



VALLADOLID. 

Had it not been for this side trip to the Mecca of Spain, after leav- 
ing Coruna our way would have laid toward Valladolid, Philip's birth- 
place, and, strangely enough, the scene of the fii-st atito da fd, which the 
cruel monarch witnessed from a balcony overlooking the Plaza de Campo. 
This famous square was devoted to tournaments, bull fights and such 
other exhibitions as the Inquisition brought forth. Here also Napo- 
leon reviewed his 35,000 troops who had succeeded in seriously dam- 
aging the interior of the Convent San Pablo and the Colegio de San 
Uregorio, which stood near the royal palace, and whose ruins are among 
the grandest of Gothic ecclesiastical edifices in the world. But greater 
than her ruins, her galleries of 
statues and pictures, her deserted 
palaces of royalty and thv. ^.. ,i 
quisition, and even her extensive \\ 
university, are the houses of Co- i[fe|]H"' y..- J \ 
lumbus and Cervantes — the ,MBjj|>j| i W"yT>i '\ 
scenes of death and of the final |"" *^ ' " 
revision of " Don Quixote." The 
house where Columbus died was, 
at last accounts, a small shop for 
the sale of woolen goods. 

SALAMANCA. 

Salamanca is the next famous 
town as we near Madrid, as being 
for so many centuries the univer- 
sity center of the Catholic faith, 
having from an early period con- 
tained a college for the special 
education of Irish students. It 
is still in existence. It is said that 2*=^^^ ^^ salamanca. 

" one of the most highly-prized works in Roman Catholic divinity is the 
great collection of controversia and moral theology by the members of 
the college of Carmelite friars." The Plaza Mayor is the largest 
square in Spain, and will, upon occasion, accommodate the 16,000 
or 20,000 who pour toward it from a radius of a score of miles 
when a great bull fight is announced; for such are the contrasts of 
Spanish life! Salamanca was almost destroyed by the French in 
181 2, and most of its splendid ancient edifices are in ruins or worked 




42 THE world's FAIR. 

into the fortifications which the invaders, when they possessed the city, 
threw up against the British. Twenty colleges and as many convents 
thus fell victims to the stern necessities of war. 

Avila, another step nearer Madrid, is a small town about fifty miles 
northwest of the capital, and although one of the many places which the 
wonder-loving Spaniards ascribe to Hercules, it is now chiefly noted as 
being the birthplace of the country's lady patroness, " Our Seraphic 
Mother, the Holy Theresa, Spouse of Jesus," born March 28, 15 15. It 
was at one time one of the richest cities of Spain. 

About the same distance from Madrid is Segovia, frequently the 
residence of the kings of Castile and Leon, where they laid their 
schemes to lower the pride of the Moorish monarchs. It is perched 
upon a rocky knoll, high above the sea level, surrounded by picturesque 
walls and round towers. Segovia's importance as a Roman city is indi- 
cated by the most stupendous Roman structure left standing in Spain — 
an aqueduct half a mile long and one hundred and two feet high. Under 
the Moors it was the seat of immense cloth manufactures, and the modern 
town reflects its old prosperity in the shape of a few small establishments 
which scour wool and manufacture woolen cloths. On a rocky promon- 
tory is one of those fortress palaces — the Alcazar — which the Moors 
seem to have planted upon every bold height of the districts in which 
they lived. The Alcazar of Segovia, long after the Moslems were driven 
out of Castile, was used by the kings of Spain as a prison, both for state 
offenders and the pirates of the Barbary states, who retained few of those 
qualities of intelligent industry which made the Moorish dominion in 
Spain one which was not devoid of great blessings. 

THE ESCURIAL. 

Looking toward Madrid from the barren and elevated sand plateau 
which surrounds it, it is seen that the capital lies in a basin, encircled by 
plantations, gardens and boulevards. Within this band of green, almost 
startling from its contrast with the arid plains of Castile, rises the city of 
palaces, spires and domes. If you come up from the south, this pict- 
ure, set in a frame-work of green, has a background of snow-capped 
mountains ; if you come down from the north by way of Segovia, you 
can not miss that gigantic gridiron, the Escurial, which lays with upturned 
feet upon the southeastern slope of the Sierra Guadarama. St. Law- 
rence was broiled on a gridiron, and in accordance with a vow that he 
would build a monastery to his memory if he gained the battle of St. 
Quentin, Philip built the Escurial in its present form. Many ranges of 
buildings represent its body, crossing each other at right angles, form- 



MADRID, 43 

ing numerous courts with a tower 200 feet in height at each corner of the 
immense parallelogram. The towers are the upturned feet, and the handle 
is a wing nearly 500 feet long, containing the royal apartments, picture 
galleries and a library. The mausoleum of the kings of Spain fronts 
one side of a court, in the form of a massive church built like St. 
Peter's, its grand dome rising above the mighty altar over 300 feet. 
Under the altar is the tomb of the kings of Spain, built of jasper and 
black marble, in which their precious remains are packed away like so 
much treasure. Two-score marble chapels, marble and porphyry pillars 
on all sides — red, green, white and black — the walls incrusted with 
marble, the floors paved with it, give a rich and solemn effect to the 
interior ; while without are the massive dome and towers, the six granite 
and marble statues, called the kings of Judea, sitting in royal state upon 
the broad staircase, and the sculptured portal through which the bodies 
of the kings of Spain are borne for baptism, and never again except as 
corpses. 

MADRID. 

There is nothing now to prevent our passing through the triumphal 
gate of the Puerta de Alcala, seventy-two feet in height, into the city 
of which the Spaniard says " See Madrid and live," but whose three 
months of winter and nine months of blasting heat have prompted for- 
eigners to hold out no inducement but speedy death to a resident. 
Four streets traverse Madrid from northeast to southwest, and one of 
them, Alcala, is pronounced the handsomest in Spain and one of the 
widest and finest in the world. The principal commercial thoroughfares 
radiate from one street, and they are more European than Spanish. But 
in the southwest district, particularly in the streets south of the Plaza 
Mayor, the wide and regular thoroughfares of modern Madrid give place 
to the crooked, dirty lanes of the ancient city. Open shops or bazaars, 
like those of Morocco, Egypt, or Turkey, line them and they are crowded 
with beggars, smugglers and gypsies. Within the square were many 
fine buildings which were repeatedly destroyed by the flames of the 
autos da fd, although the victims were led to the stake outside the gate. 
But the danger in which the surrounding buildings stood could not have 
been small, for the water supply of the city was formerly almost confined 
to drinking purposes, and the portentous flames were continually as- 
cending to heaven. In opening new streets from the Plaza Mayor, es- 
pecially one in 1869, terrible evidences of the magnitude of these human 
bonfires were discovered. A number of strata of charcoal and cinders 
were upturned, mingled with bones and entire portions of the human 



44 



THE world's fair. 



body, and, for a time, while the excitement of the large foreign element 
of Madrid ran high over the disclosure, the beggars and gypsies and 
street arabs of the district south of the square reaped a welcome harvest 
of small coins by delving in the refuse and selling the relics of martyr- 
dom to curiosity seekers. There are other smaller squares in which crimi- 
nals and heretics were executed and in the center of one of the most dimin- 
utive is a cross which marks the spot where the last heretic was burned 
in Madrid. 

The center of the modern capital is the Puerta del Sol, as we have 
intimated. Not only do the principal business streets run from this 




SPANISH WATER CARRIEIl. 



square, but magnificent hotels and cafes, cosy club and reading rooms, 
are centered around it, so that it is the natural point toward which re- 
sort the French, English and German business men and the Spanish 
pleasure seekers. Newsboys, water-carriers, honey-sellers, musicians 
with their bagpipes and guitars, and at night the private watchmen who 
lustily cry out the time and the state of the weather, make this vicinity 
a second Naples for din and good-natured bustle. Of the great palaces 
of Madrid the residence of the royal family is the most imposing. It is 
470 feet square, 100 feet high, built of granite and white marble, incloses 



MADRID. 45 

a great square, is between beautiful gardens and a magnificent plaza 
decorated with statues of kings and queens, and contains extensive 
libraries, and a royal armory wherein are the armors of Cortes, Colum- 
bus and Don John of Austria, with the crowns of Gothic kings brought 
from Toledo. 

The whole of this magnificent pile was occupied during the reign of 
the Bourbons. Queen Isabella, the mother of a subsequent king, lived 
there in especial state. She flaunted rich robes of state on which were 
the arms of Castile, her jewels were royal and her entertainments. The 
princess had palatial apartments and her husband and sister's family also 
quartered themselves in this splendid home. Their retinues, receptions 
and all, despite the family jars, were on a par with the munificence of 
the ancient sovereigns. Her successor, King Amadeus, and his modest 
wife, followed after Carlist insurrections and scandalous events. He 
seemed worthy of the position. The palatial pile was almost deserted. 
The royal pair lived in three rooms, with the children, like a sensible, 
simple couple — Queen Isabella had occupied those very apartments- 
alone. The king went out like a private gentlemen, sometimes accom- 
panied by his wife or a servant. Having dined with his wife, smoked a 
cigar and tended to his affairs of state, he went into the Alcala to see 
the sights and talk to his subjects. "The ministers cried out against it ; 
the Bourbon party who were accustomed to the imposing cortege of 
Isabella said that he dragged the majesty of the throne of San Fernando 
through the streets." At the court dinner on Sunday, to which govern- 
ment officials and scientists were invited, the queen appeared with the 
king, simply dressed, having spent much of the week at hospitals and at 
such institutions as the one she established where children were sent for 
safe-keeping whose mothers were out at work. She spoke Spanish well, 
although it was not her native tongue. She was a kind-hearted, sensible 
woman, and her husband was like his father, Victor Emanuel. But 
though as approachable as the most democratic might desire, they were 
not Spanish, and so they gave place to Isabella's son, the mother having 
fled in disgrace, and the young prince of Asturias, Alfonso, became the 
master of the royal palace. He died in 1885, and during the next year 
his queen, Christina, gave birth to a son, who, if he lives, may be 
lord of this palace. 

South from the magnificent Alcala is the first of Madrid's numerous 
promenades, the Prado. For several miles it stretches along, between 
stately houses from whose balconies, protected by screens or curtains, the 
famous Spanish beauties smile upon the gay throng of carriages, horse- 
men and pedestrians. Here are seen the graceful Spanish cloak and the 



46 THE world's fair. 

national veil and mantilla, although French styles are getting to be prev- 
alent among the higher classes. The northern limits of the Prado 
proper are fixed by the fountain of Cybele, the proud mother of the gods 
being seated in a triumphal car drawn by two great marble lions. In 
the center of the boulevard is another beautiful fountain dedicated to 
Apollo, and Neptune is honored in the south. Minor fountains, gardens 
and pieces of statuary are scattered along the way, and the beauties of 
this enticing drive and walk are prolonged, both north and south, into 
the charming suburbs of the city. 

It is in the way of this constant stream of beauty, fashion and cult- 
ure that the royal museum lays, in which is treasured, according to 
artistic authorities, a collection of paintings " not only the greatest in the 
world, but the greatest that can ever be made until this is broken up." 
The gallery comprises works of Murillo, Velasquez, Raphael, Rubens, 
Teniers and Titian. Murillo's " Martyrdom of St. Andrew," the instru- 
ment of whose death shaped the great Escurial, is here, and the most 
wonderful works of Velasquez enable the artist to study the master 
here as nowhere else. Madrid was the scene of his greatest triumphs. 
Here the king himself so appreciated his genius as to become his inti- 
mate and to confer upon him the Cross of Santiago, an honor never 
before accorded to any but the highest of the nobility. 

AMUSEMENTS OF THE NATIVE. 

Just outside the Alcala is the bull ring, built upon the site of an 
ancient one. No great Spanish town would be complete without it. 
The bull ring is a great open amphitheatre, which was inherited from the 
Romans. The huge animals which furnish the blood and the sport of 
the occasion, mostly come from the Sierra Morena mountains of Anda- 
lusia ; the very name, " Andalusian bull," sounds like a great body pro- 
pelling itself forward with mighty force. The participants in the fight 
at first are usually unmounted, and show proverbial agility in avoiding 
the rushes of the infuriated monster. But this sport is merely to whet 
the appetite of the gay crowd for the more exciting contest, in which 
the mounted picadors also participate. Having partially exhausted his 
strength in vain charges at his glittering, nimble foes, the bull is now 
confronted with mounted spearmen as well. As his strength fails, more 
and more, if he has not yet maimed a man or disemboweled a horse, it 
is needful to import a new company of tormenters to thrust him with 
darts. When the beast refuses the contest the matador gives him the 
death-blow with his short sword. Trumpets sound, flowers are showered 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE NATIVE. 



47 



into the arena by excited ladies, and the matter-of-fact, unromantic 
mules are driven in to drag away the dead bodies of bull and horses. 

The king had his private box, as of old. Even Amadeus, his prede- 
cessor, of the simple, homely manners, patronized the exhibition, although 
his tender-hearted queen, not hardened yet to the sights, stayed away. If 
the " torero" is fortunate enough to have given the bull his death wound 
in a skillful manner, the thousands of spectators, as he makes the round 
of the arena, almost bury him beneath piles of cigars, purses, hats, canes 
— anything which comes to hand — while the ladies shower him with 
praises, not to say loving words. The king himself rewards the bloody 
hero with a purse of money, and the same performance is repeated as 
long as the festival of the bull fights lasts. 

Cock-fights are less popular, because fewer grades of society patron- 




BULL FIGHTERS. 



ize them ; but there are regular theatres where the cruel sport may be 
witnessed, and the excitement there evinced, if not so grand in its quality 
and quantity as shown at the bull amphitheatre, is fully as intense. The 
conflict of the birds usually takes place in the daytime, so that among the 
various spectators the principal actors in the bull arena often appear 
dressed in their red sashes and gaudy clothes. The theatre itself is 
bright with color — the circular tiers of chairs are often red and flowers are 
painted on the walls. The pit is a circular box in the centre of the hall, 
surrounded by a high wire screen. But why describe a cock-fight ! It is 
more brutal, if anything, though not so destructive of life as the other 



48 THE world's fair. 

sport; for a true Spanish fight must end in the death of one or the 
other of the combatants, and if the birds are game the conclusion of 
the conflict sees one or both of them simply bunches of feathers, blood 
and bones, with the flesh stripped from the skeleton and the eyes out. 
Ladies and the higher classes, who would eagerly grace a bull fight, do 
not attend such small exhibitions of bloodshed. It is only where horses, 
bulls and men shed their blood that they care to go. 

Madrid contains nearly a hundred public squares, large and small, 
and a vast number of churches, but having no cathedral, strictly speak- 
ing, it ranks in Spair^ merely as a town within the bishopric of Toledo. 
Under the Moors it was a mere fortified outpost of Toledo, and the 
Royal Palace stands upon the site of the ancient Alcazar, or fortress. 
When it was stormed and captured by Alfonso of Castile, the castle and 
town were called Majerit. As we have stated he made Toledo his capital 
and Madrid did not come into real prominence until Philip 11, declared 
it to be " the only court," the royal residence having been shifting 
around from place to place ever since Ferdinand's time. So that the 
founding of Madrid dates from about the middle of the sixteenth century. 
It has been a city of memorable treaties and insurrections, the most seri- 
ous uprising being that against Murat and the French in 1808. An 
imposing group of edifices now occupies the site of an old church, which 
stood east of the great square of Puerta del Sol, the scene of the blood- 
iest conflict between the French and the citizens, while in a park of the 
Prado called "the field of loyalty" is a memorial shaft, surrounded 
by mourning cypresses. 

CUBA AND COLUMBUS' TOMB. 

Spain still retains the Cuba that Columbus discovered, and it is the 
most important of her colonial possessions. The population which the 
Spaniards found has disappeared, with the exception of a few families 
around Santiago, and the people are now a conglomeration of blacks, 
Creoles and " peninsulares," or natives of Spain. Most of the latter class, 
or Cuban Spaniards, originally came from Aragon, Catalonia, Navarre, 
Castile and other districts of Northern and, Northeastern Spain, being 
traders and mechanics, and so sturdy and energetic that they not only 
obtained control of the wealth, but the government of the island. 
" For a time after the conquest in 151 1 none but Castilians were allowed 
to settle in Cuba ; but after the prohibition was removed, colonists from 
all the provinces, and even from the Canary Islands, came thither. The 
Biscayans hire out as mechanics ; the Catalans, who are numetous. 



CUBA AND COLUMBUS TOMB. 



49 



devote themselves to hard labor; the Asturians, Castilians and Anda- 
lusians occupy clerkships and the learned professions. " The aborigines 
of the West Indies have disappeared, or been driven along the pathway 
of the Antilles to South America, leaving many strange relics behind 
them which will be properly placed at the Columbian Exposition. 

The metropolitan center of Cuba's best life is Havana, through 
which flows so large a revenue to needy Spain. Tiie city is almost as 
well known as New York, 
having about half the popu- 
lation of Madrid, and pre- 
senting, besides its immense 
commercial activity, one of 
the finest opera houses in 
existence. 

The most noteworthy 
church is the large Jesuit 
Cathedral, plain without but 
richly frescoed within, its 
floor and portions of its al- 
tars being constructed of 
beautiful variegated marble. 
In the wall of the chancel 
an inscribed medallion indi- 
cates that below is the tomb 
of Columbus. 

Until 1877 it was sup- 
posed that the remains of 
Columbus undoubtedly rest- 
ed beneath the rich marble 
floor of the Havana Cathe- 
dral. From Spain they were 
carried to San Domingo, 
and when, in 1795, Hispan- 
iola was transferred to France, the supposed dust of the illustrious 
man was borne to Havana. Washington Irving thus describes the im- 
'pressive ceremonies attending the historic event : "On the 20th of 
December, 1795, the most distinguished persons of the place (San 
Domingo), the dignitaries of the church, the civil and military officers, 
assembled in the metropolitan cathedral. In the presence of this august 
assemblage, a small vault was opened above the chancel, in the principal 




TOMB OF COLUMBUS AT HAVANA. 



50 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

wall on the right side of the high altar. Within were found the frag- 
ments of a leaden coffin, a number of bones, and a quantity of mould, 
evidently the remains of a human body. These were carefully collected 
and put into a case of gilded lead, about half an ell in length and 
breadth, and a third in height, secured by an iron lock, the key of which 
was delivered to the archbishop. The case was inclosed in a coffin 
covered with black velvet, and ornamented with lace and fringe of gold. 
The whole was then placed in a temporary tomb or mausoleum. 

"On the following day there was another grand convocation at the 
cathedral, when the vigils and masses for the dead were solemnly 
chanted by the archbishop, accompanied by the commandant-general of 
the Armada, the Dominican and Franciscan friars of the Order of Mercy, 
together with the rest of the distinguished assemblage. After this a 
funeral sermon was preached by the archbishop. 

"On the same day, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the coffin was 
transported to the ship with the utmost state and ceremony, with a civil, 
religious and military procession, banners wrapped in mourning, chants, 
and responses, and discharges of artillery. The most distinguished 
persons of the several orders took turn to support the coffin. The key 
was taken with great formality from the hands of the archbishop by the 
governor, and given into the hands of the commander of the Armada, 
to be delivered by him to the governor of Havana, to be held in deposit 
until the pleasure of the king should be known. The coffin was received 
on board of a brigantine called the Discoverer, which, with all the other 
shipping, displayed mourning signals, and saluted the remains with the 
honors paid to an admiral. 

"From the port of St. Domingo the coffin was conveyed to the bay 
of Ocoa,*and there transferred to the ship San Lorenzo. It was accom- 
panied by a portrait of Columbus, sent from Spain by the Duke of 
Veraguas, to be suspended close by the place where the remains of his 
illustrious ancestor should be deposited." 

Upon the arrival of the ship at Havana, the ceremonies of receiving 
the remains were alike impressive, and the leaden coffin was deposited, 
with great reverence, in the wall on the right side of the grand altar. It 
was thus intended that the tomb of Columbus should have the place of 
honor in the cathedral of Havana, as in the cathedral of San Domingo. 

Now comes the sequel, and the uncertainty as to whether the 
remains which were brought to Havana, with all this pomp and cere- 
mony, were really those of Columbus. In 1877, while making some 
changes about the chancel of the San Domingo cathedral, the authorities 



THE PORTUGUESE AND PRINCE HENRY. 5 1 

discovered an occupied vault on either side of it, as well as one which 
was empty. An inscription upon one of the leaden coffins indicated that 
the bones within were those of Luis, the grandson of Columbus. 
Various letters and inscriptions were found upon the other, which have 
been thus deciphered: "Discoverer of America, First Admiral;" 
"Illustrious and Renowned Man, Christopher Columbus;" "A part of 
the remains of the First Admiral, Don Christopher Columbus, 
Discoverer." 

Since the alleged discovery of the remains of Columbus in San 
Domingo, high authorities have charged that the word America could 
not have been used at the time of the Admiral's burial ; that the inscrip- 
tions have been tampered with; that the casket at San Domingo con- 
tains the remains of Christopher Columbus, the grandson of the famous 
man, and that the whole affair is an attempt to impose a fraud upon 
the world. But wherever the dust of Christopher Columbus rests, his 
fame is secure. 

THE PORTUGUESE AND PRINCE HENRY. 

First, now, as to the people. The Portuguese, as a race, rest more 
upon their language than their personal appearance. In the south they 
are dark, tall and lithe, almost Arabs in their general features, while in 
the north they greatly resemble the natives of extreme Northwestern 
Spain, who have a greater proportion of primitive blood than those of 
the south. The Portuguese tongue, on the other hand, has found 
eulogists among all nationalities, having been variously described as a 
language of flowers, the eldest daughter of the Latin, and the soft and 
voluptuous dialect. What few harsh and guttural sounds are heard, it 
inherits from the Arabic which, while the Moors were in power, was 
spoken throughout the country. The Portuguese language is a most 
admirable aid to the courteous and insinuative manners of the higher 
classes of the country. These, in fact, are more pleasing in their address 
than those in the same plane of Spanish society, while the lower classes 
are more ignorant and degraded. But whatever else may be said of 
him, the Portuguese is brave, patriotic, hospitable and cheerful, and hates 
the Spaniard, and especially the Castilian, for his attempt to subjugate 
him completely; and yet, speaking in general terms, the Portuguese is 
but a Spaniard with a softer tongue and a harder body. 

The Portuguese, of Portugal, either as an agricultural or a com- 
mercial race, show little of that spirit of revival which is seen in so 



52 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

many parts of Spain. Since the French threatened to swallow them 
during the Peninsular War they have transferred their best energies to 
Brazil. 

Before the birth of Columbus, Prince Henry of Portugal was one of 
the grandest soldiers of Europe. He particularly distinguished himself 
in the wars against the African Moors, and was offered the command of 
armies, not only by home rulers, but by foreign monarchs. Prince 
Henry was of superb physique, and first in the kingdom in all manly 
exercises; and he was a scholar — a deep mathematician, an astronomer, 
and a geographer. In fact, his intense love of science and discovery 
overcame all his other ambitions. By his campaigns in Africa he had 
acquired some knowledge of the western coast of that continent, learning 
also of its extension far southward. Withdrawing from court, and 
resolutely refusing all offers of military advancement, he established 
himself upon the rocky promontory which juts out from Southwestern 
Portugal, at Sagres, near Cape St. Vincent. Here he built the first 
observatory in Portugal, drew around him some of the most noted 
cosmographers of Europe, and putting his bold heart into the timid 
breasts of the Portuguese, made them the most distinguished nav- 
igators in the world. Expedition after expedition was dispatched by 
him in this search for the southern passage to the Indies, so that before 
he died, in 1463, every cape of the coast beyond which the seamen of 
his day insisted that no ship could pass had been rounded, and that 
zone of fire had been entered nearly to the equator which the authorities 
of that time averred was the zone of death. 

Prince Henry gave the impetus to Portuguese discovery, which, 
twenty-four years after his death, brought the first known European ship 
around the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese were now upon 
every sea, and Lisbon was the center of nearly every grand enterprise. 
It was therefore quite fortunate that a few years after the noble prince's 
death, the ship-wrecked sailor, Columbus, should be cast upon the 
shores of Portugal near the famous observatory, in the vicinity of Cape 
St. Vincent, and that he should wander to the stirring city of Lisbon. 
The sturdy, inquiring mariner married a daughter of one of Prince 
Henry's most trustworthy captains. 

Prince Henry was a worthy predecessor and inspirer of Columbus, 
and among the works of art which Americans should honor are the 
statue of the lofty-souled Portuguese, which may be seen over a gate of 
the Church of Belem, Lisbon, and the monument to his memory, which 
stands in the town of Sagres. 




THE ITALIANS. 

HIS people is a family of the great Graeco-Roman group, 
I which comprises the natives of Greece, Italy, France and Spain. 
The Latin branch, or tribe of the Italian race, early attained 
the sovereignty over its own kindred, over the Gauls in the 
north, the Greeks in the south and the aborigines (Etruscans 
and lapygians) in the east and extreme southeast. On the 
Palatine Hill, probably as a frontier defense against the Etrus- 
cans, commenced to rise the first crude buildings which were 
to form the nucleus of the great City of the Seven Hills and 
the mightiest empire of the ancient times. When this infant 
Rome was finished, it is said to have consisted of about a thousand 
dwellings, irregularly arranged. Strangers were invited to the new 
settlement, and the next we hear of it, it is the city of the Latin 
confederacy, or of Latium, where the Senate meets and metropolitan 
life is at its best. 

MODERN ROME. 

After some twenty-six hundred years we find a city inclosed by some 
twelve miles of walls, one-third of which area only is inhabited. One- 
half is strewn with ancient ruins, and the balance is laid out in gardens 
or vineyards. The city occupies a marsh on each side of the Tiber and 
the slopes of the seven hills, the greater portion of Rome being on the 
left bank. 

CAPITOLINE HILL. 



The center of interest is the Capitoline Hill, the smallest but most 
famous of the group. On the summit of this rocky mountain were built 
three magnificent capitols, which were destroyed by fire, the modern 
structure being erected partly on the foundation of the ancient temple. 
From the Capitoline Hill, or that portion of it called the Tarpeian Rock, 
state criminals were thrown. The remains of the ancient capitol, in whose 
spacious portico the people feasted when their Emperor returned to 
celebrate a triumph, are confined to a small section of the superstructure 

53 



54 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

and wall, and a portion of the great flight of steps leading to the temple. 
Besides the capitol, or the great Temple of Jupiter, were the Temple of 
Jupiter Tonans and the magnificent Tabularium, wherein were stored 
the public records of the empire, which contained its treasury and served 
as a library and lecture building. The remains of the latter structure 
still have an imposing appearance. 

From the south of the capitol to the city walls are cultivated land, 
beautiful gardens and vineyards. From the great northern entrance of 
Rome to the foot of the hill runs the Corso, a street about a mile long, 
passing through the site of the ancient Campus Martius, an open space 
of many acres, where the ancient Romans were wont to assemble and 
indulge in games and other amusements ; this is now the most densely 
populated portion of Rome and given up to trade. On each side of the 
Corso are palaces and churches, while to the right, about half way up, 
branches off a noble street leading to the immense Jesuit convent and 
church. 

THE PANTHEON. 

The strip between the Corso and the Tiber, is densely populated by 
the smaller classes of traders, the poor and the beggars of Rome ; 
market places and shops are there galore. In this quarter, however, 
stands the Pantheon, one of the grandest remains of all Rome's great- 
ness. It is also the best preserved. Standing near the center of the 
ancient Campus, and erected nineteen centuries ago as a temple to all 
the heathen gods, it was consecrated twelve centuries ago as a Christian 
church, under the name of Sancta Maria ad Martyres. But the name 
of Pantheon yet clings to It, and the huge rotunda with its lofty dome 
rises above the surrounding squalor in all the impressiveness of Roman 
architecture. Its portico, over a hundred feet in length, with triple rows 
of mighty granite columns, the capitals and bases of which are marble, 
is one of the most remarkable productions of artistic genius to be seen 
in Rome. Much of the bronze roof, which these pillars support, has 
been removed by various Popes to be used in the interior decoration of 
the Vatican, as have also many fine marbles from the body of the Pan- 
theon. But the monument stands in its general features of gran- 
deur. Once within, you seem to stand beneath a miniature heavenly 
vault, your illusion being only dispelled when, upon glancing upward, you 
see the floods of light pouring through a large opening in the dome and 
scattering itself, as if by magic, to every altar and niche of the interior. 
Originally, the exterior of the dome was covered with plates of silver, 
but these were removed and bronze ones substituted. A modern copy 



THE VATICAN AND ST. PETERS, 55 

of the Pantheon is the world-famed St. Peter's, and thus there is a double 
bond of union between the ancient and modern religion of Rome. 

THE VATICAN AND ST. PETER'S. 

The Upper Town, so called, Hes on the slope of the Pincian and 
Ouirinal Hills, consisting of palaces, villas, churches and convents, gar- 
dens and beautiful walks. In this locality were the favorite promenades 
of the Romans. On the summit of the Quirinal is the famous pontifi- 
cal palace and garden. From it is obtained a striking view of the castle 
of St. Angelo, with its great! circular tower, mounted with cannon and 
protected with ramparts and ditches. It commands the bridge which 
forms the principal means of communication between the two portions 
of the city. St. Angelo looms up like a ponderous warrior guarding 
the approach to the Vatican, consisting of the palace and the basilica 
o( St. Peter's. This wonderful creation of architectural genius and 
religious fervor can not be described in a few, or many, words. St. 
Peter's must be seen and felt — the approach through the great circular 
court, its palatial front and mighty dome, the grand central nave, with 
its gorgeous ornaments and many statues, and its chapels, tombs and 
altars ! Then passing from the right to the Piazza of St. Peter's, up the 
wonderful staircase called Scala Regia, we turn to the left and enter the 
Sistine chapel of Michael Angelo, for it is next to impossible not to 
associate him with it in the sense of ownership. His genius looks down 
from the ceiling in The Creation, The Fall of Man and The Deluge, 
while The Last Judgment, pronounced by some the greatest of all 
paintings, has drawn the eyes of the world to the end wall, which is a 
little more than forty feet across. " Upon this work Michael Angelo 
spent seven years of almost incessant labor and study. To animate him 
in the task Pope Paul III., attended by ten cardinals, waited upon 
the artist at his house, an honor," says Lanzi, who records the fact, 
" unparalleled in the history of art." 

PETER'S PRISON. 

The old Mamertine prison, whose walls are built of such enormous 
stones as to prove the structure a relic of Rome's ancient monarchs, is 
supposed to be the gloomy work of Martius, or Mamertius, the fourth 
king of the city who flourished 600 B. C. There is a Catholic legend to 
the effect that St. Peter or St. Paul was confined in one of its damp cells, 
and, having converted the jailer, a spring of water bubbled from the 
stone floor to enable him to baptize him. Beneath the floor is a dungeon 



56 THE world's fair. 

which has been found to be of great size and in which the conspirators 
of CataHne were strangled to death. 

THE LIFE OF TO-DAY. 

The Vatican is divided from the Trastevere, or the portion of the 
city on this side of the Tiber which is not within the province of the 
Church, by an inner wall. This district is bounded by the river and a 




STREET SCENE IN ROME. , 

ridge which rises 300 feet above it. Along the northern half of the 
heights is carried a broad street which is a favorite promenade of the 
Roman youth ; and the largest fountain of Rome graces a commanding 
site, its torrents of water seeming, from a distance, to rush through three 
mighty arches. Many other fountains beautify the modern city. Col- 
lected in these refreshing localities may occasionally be seen the beau- 



THE CATACOMBS. 57 

tiful Roman maidens of the artist, dancing and singing "for a bit," or 
seated about in careless grace. In the squares also where the fountains 
play and to which the tired curiosity seeker instinctively repairs to bring 
before his eyes something besides ruins, the Roman beggar is at his best — 
there and at the doors of the great churches. But even the plague of 
mendicancy is being somewhat alleviated through government efforts, 
and it may be that these characters which have made Rome noted will 
disappear as effectually as the old-fashioned, mild and romantic Roman 
peasant. 

Something, or somebody, to satisfy artistic cravings, however, may 
be found in the dreary Campagna, that great pestilential tract which sur- 
rounds the city and includes the greater portion of ancient Latium. The 
ground is low and often flooded from the Tiber. The small lakes are 
formed by craters of extinct volcanoes. Wars, pestilences (especially 
the Black Death in the fourteenth century) and the overflow of the 
Tiber may account for the present unhealthfulness of the Campagna, 
which according to Livy always had that reputation in some degree, al- 
though it once was well cultivated and adorned with such villas as those 
of Domitian and Hadrian, 

The Campagna is deserted except by the poorer classes of peasants 
and shepherds, and in summer, when the most dangerous vapors arise, 
they, too, flee to Rome or neighboring localities. But in autu-mn the 
pasturage is in many places rich and abundant, and then the herdsmen 
and shepherds descend from the Apennine mountains with their cattle, 
goats and sheep. They are the figures for the artist's pencil — shep- 
herds with broad-brimmed hats, great cloaks, their feet swathed in rags, 
their hair and beard long and profuse. 

THE CATACOMBS. 

As the shepherd of the Campagna pipes along over the morasses 
^nd fields of sward to his pasture grounds, with his dogs and flocks, he 
is quite likely to be walking over whole streets of the dead. The cata- 
combs of Rome, those subterranean vaults which line the dark passage- 
ways for many dreary miles, are outside the city walls and approached 
by stone steps, which descend to openings in the rock from the famous 
Appian Way. Within these labyrinths, whose rocky walls are so many 
sealed tombs and which occasionally expand into wide and lofty cham- 
bers, are deposited the bodies of countless Christians of the primitive 
church — bishops and laymen, but martyrs almost invariably, as the inscrip- 
tions upon the tombs eloquently and pathetically testify. These impos- 
ing chambers were, no doubt, churches. In the repeated wars which 



58 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

Rome suffered many of the catacombs were destroyed, and to circum- 
vent future ravages the Popes caused thousands of bodies of the illustrious 
dead to be removed to places of safety. It is possible that from this city 
of the dead, whose inhabitants have been reckoned by the millions and 
the length of whose streets is hundreds of miles, although its pollution has 
been sealed from those who pass along its rocky ways, may still arise influ- 
ences which have their effect upon the marshy, steaming Campagna above. 

THE COLOSSEUM AND THE FORUM. 

But we now return to the Capitoline Hill, having crossed the river to 
explore the Vatican and the freshest district of modern Rome. By a steep 
descent from the hill we reach the Colosseum in what is now known as 
the Campo Vaccino, or cattle market, thus indicating the purpose to 
which the great Roman Forum has for centuries been devoted. In 
ancient times, also, the markets formed an important feature of the Forum, 
a great portion of which was devoted to the assemblies of the people. 
Here were hung up for the benefit of the public the laws of the Twelve 
Tables, and afterward the calendars of the courts, written upon white 
tables, that the citizens might be informed as to legal proceedings. One 
portion of the Forum was, in fact, devoted to trade and the other a public 
assembly ground and the scene of banquets and gladiatorial sports, the 
two being divided by the platforms from which the Roman orators 
addressed the citizens. After Caesar's time the Roman Forum lost its 
political and popular character, and with the erection of the Colosseum 
it became almost entirely the center of those cruelties called sports. 
Triumphal arches were also erected by the Emperors, such as those of 
Constantine and Titus, and splendid monuments and temples, some of 
which still stand. On the east and south the Forum was bounded by the 
Sacra Via, upon the highest point of which stood Titus' arch, and which 
connected the Colosseum with the other wonders of the Forum. 

It was the original intention of Augustus to build a great amphic 
theatre in the center of Rome, and Vespasian and his son Titus realized 
the former's bright hopes with the help of the vast number of Jewish 
workmen which he brought as captives from Jerusalem. The site selected 
was in a hollow between two hills which Nero had caused to be made 
for an artificial lake. The great structure, which was 615 x 510 feet, was 
in four stories and in three different styles of architecture. It was dedi- 
cated by Titus 80 A. D., with a brilliant programme of games and gladia- 
torial shows, numbers of men and thousands of wild beasts being killed 
to satisfy the 80,000 spectators who are supposed to have been present. 
Later this was the arena where many of the early Christians suffered 



THE ITALIAN PEASANT. 59 

martyrdom. Otherwise the Colosseum has few historical associations. 
It is supposed to have remained entire until the eleventh century, when 
Rome was sacked by the Normans and the Colosseum partially demolished 
to destroy its utility as a fortress. In the fourteenth century it was a 
favorite arena for bull-fights and it afterward became a hospital. Its 
walls were used as building material for Roman palaces and attempts 
were made to transform it into a bazaar and a saltpetre factory. Then a 
cross was planted in the center of the still grand ruin, with small chapels 
around the walls, and once every week it was customary to hold exercises 
in memory of the saints and unknown martyrs who suffered for their 
faith. Subsequently these were removed and the excavations which 
followed revealed a multitude of chambers and passages whose uses are 
unknown. 

From a point beyond the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill and the 
ruined Palace of the Caesars, and beyond the present city walls, but 
which was once not far removed from the very center of Rome, stands a 
long procession of fragmentary aqueducts. The most noted of these 
are the aqueducts of Marcia and Claudia. The water supply of modern 
Rome is along much the same course; in fact, the works of Marcia and 
Claudia have been partially utilized. 

THE ITALIAN PEASANT. 

The Italian is not a peasant from choice and no Italian who is 
wealthy enough to own a farm would think of occupying it. The owner 
graces his property long enough to collect his crop moneys, leaving it 
the rest of the year in charge of hired laborers, who are crowded 
together in little ^villages. Here and there throughout the country are 
great tracts of land, upon which are masses of buildings, surrounded by 
high walls and deep moats, mementos of the days when hordes of bar- 
barians might sweep down from the North at any moment, burn the vine- 
yards and destroy the grain ; the bandits came later to terrify the life of 
the prosperous farmer and make it more agreeable for him to live in 
town with his wife and family. 

Much in the same way the country population have got into the 
habit of emigrating to the cities and towns. They usually have acquired 
trades such as those of masons, carpenters or house painters, and from 
their busy hands came many of the superb structures which grace both 
the ancient and modern cities of Italy. Many of them gather not only 
competencies, but fortunes. Yearly they return to their beloved fields 
and valleys to spend their idle months, and finally, perhaps, to live. A 
case in point is that of a gentleman of Piedmont who became chief 



■60 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

director of the great tunnel, on the Apennines, above Genoa, at the 
time of the construction of the railway there. At length he retired to 
his country home, and employed several hundred villagers to transform 
his hut into a palace and his bare rocks into a park. Other young men, 
especially of the Northern districts, turned up their noses at the plow 
and sought their fortunes in Austria and Germany ; so that, as an 
observer of this feature of peasant life once remarked, "in Italy are to 
be found boors who for half the year are, at Vienna, bankers,barons and 
even counts, of the Holy Roman Empire." 

Those whom circumstances force to stay at home and till the soil 
are apt to ape metropolitan ways. They are social by nature, and would 
rather live huddled in a squalid hamlet than out in the country where 
each man may have his own vineyard and plenty of pure air and fresh 
water. "In their dingy provincial towns they huddle together, land 
owners, farmers and most of the laborers ; and every town gives itself the 
airs and revels in the light gossip of the capital ; every town has a cafe, 
or a score of cafes in which to idle away time, all with their tawdry, 
smoky, gilt and mirrored rooms." 

It is a common plan in Italy for the land owner and his laborers to 
. share the profits in kind, the proportion varying with the fertility of the 
land. The peasant furnishes the implements of husbandry and half of 
the laboring cattle. If he is so poor that the land owner must support 
him while he tills, his position becomes most unenviable. 

VESPUCIUS' CITY. 

The most perfect picture of the City of Flowers is obtained from 
Fiesole, the site of the ancient market-place or to-^n which was the 
parent of the stately Florence. Upon these heights, overlooking the 
city, the elder Cosmo built him a villa and laid out beautiful gar- 
dens, to which resorted the stately and royal Lorenzo to muse, to 
plan, to plot, to suffer and to repent. From this point Florence, her 
populous suburbs and outlying villas, vineyards and gardens, appear to 
be one vast city, her majestic form, garlanded with flowers and wreaths 
of green, lying prone upon the ground and shaded by a circle of gently 
sloping hills. The Arno is her yellow girdle. It was in Lorenzo's 
neighboring villa at Careggi that the interview with Savonarola is said 
to have taken place. 

And now we turn from one of the world's most magnificent prin- 
ces and priests to one of her most magnificent geniuses. 

The villas in which Galileo resided are more famous, in this age of 
the world, than any which were glorified by the magnificence of Lorenzo. 



VESPUCIUS' CITY. 6r 

His own villa, the one to which he repaired to pass the last dark years 
of his harassed life, is situated beyond the hill Arcetri. " It is an ivy- 
draped, gloomy, desolate-looking abode." His observatory, a rude 
tower, is not far away. The father of astronomy passed his younger,, 
hopeful days at the villa of the historian, Guicardini, perched upon a 
beautiful height called Bellosquardo. Near the northern entrance of the 
quaint old building is a bust of Galileo with a tablet chronicling his 
residence of fourteen years within its walls. The grounds are laid out 
in pretty gardens, the present owner retaining a remembrance, no doubt, 
of the fact that its former illustrious guest was a passionate lover of 
flowers. From the roof of the villa, the center of which is railed off and 
furnished with sofas, tables, chairs, etc., may be obtained another glori- 
ous panorama of Florence and its historical buildings and spots, and the 
beauties of the surrounding country. 

"There is the vine and olive-clad valley of the Arno ; the Cascine, 
the favorite promenade or drive, the Hyde Park of Florence ; the Poggio 
Imperiale, and, leading to it, that 

"' abrupt, black line of cypresses 

Which signs the way to Florence.' " 

There is no other city in Italy whose architecture is of so gloomy and 
massive a nature ; and to the solidity of her structures is due the fact that 
they are now in such an interesting state of preservation, having with- 
stood the sieges and attacks of contending parties for centuries. 

First among the glorious monuments to Florentine genius is the 
Cathedral, the greatest wonder of which is its grand cupola, planned and 
erected by Brunelleschi. This was taken by Michael Angelo as his 
model for St. Peters, the two, with the campanile near the cathedral of 
Florence, forming perhaps the most wonderful combinations of grandeur 
and grace among all the noted structures of ecclesiastical architecture. 
The cathedral, baptistry and bell tower are covered with a mosaic of 
black and white marble. The baptistry is an octagon in form, support- 
ing a cupola and lantern and guarded by three great gates of bronze, 
the two by Ghiberti being called by Michael Angelo the Gates of Para- 
dise. 

The cathedral, campanile and baptistry look upon the Piazza del 
Duomo and on one of the stone benches which faces their magnificence 
was wont to sit a man of classic features, large-eyed and majestic — 
Dante, the poet, reformer, afterward the exile, and, with Michael Angelo,. 
the most revered of the many geniuses of Florence and Italy. 

Dante died at Ravenna, just beyond the Maritime Alps and the 
boundaries of the republic which exiled him. His bones have been 



62 THE world's FAIR. 

Stolen several times, once to keep them from a cardinal of the Church, who 
wished to burn them as those of a heretic, and again by certain ones who 
would not have the precious remains removed to Florence, which has 
made repeated efforts to honor the poet in death. Finally, 500 years 
after his decease, a great cenotaph was built in Santa Croce, but the 
little dome-like shrine in the Ravenna chapel still treasures the remains. 
From 1677 to 1865 Dante's bones remained hidden in a rough wooden 
box which was found deposited in the walls of the chapel while the 
building was being repaired in anticipation of the celebration of the 
600th anniversary of his birth. The day was observed with great mag- 
nificence in Florence, a statue of Dante being unveiled In the Piazza 
Santa Croce. Among modern Italians of note there assembled were 
Ristori, Salvini and Rossi. 

Grouped around the cathedral are other religious edifices which 
elsewhere would appear of almost unrivaled grandeur, that of Santa 
Croce, being known as the Pantheon of Florence, containing monuments 
to Galileo, Dante, Machiavelli, Michael Angelo and Alfieri. The Church 
of San Lorenzo was rebuilt from an ancient one consecrated by St. 
Ambrose. The architect was Brunelleschi. Within this grand casing 
is a memorial monument to Cosmo, with the popular title inscribed upon 
it of Pater Patriis. Lorenzo de Medici is honored, monumentally, in 
the New Sacristry, his statue being a model of manly beauty. The 
Medicean chapel, gorgeous with the rarest marbles and most costly 
stones, stands behind the choir and contains the tombs of the Medici 
and those of the grand dukes, their successors. The Laurentian library, 
founded by a Medici, adjoins the church. 

POLITICS AND RELIGION. 

The Palazzo Vecchio, so long the seat of the Republican govern- 
ment, is an imposing pile, surmounted by a tower 260 feet high, whose 
great bell used to warn the citizens of danger and call them to arms. 
The adjoining square contains magnificent groups of statuary. Michael 
Angelo's great fame rests in St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel, but in . 
the judgment of some his statue of David Confronting the Philistine, 
standing in the square which fronts the Palazzo Vecchio, is his greatest 
work as a sculptor. 

In this square, also — the Piazza della Signoria — were laid the scenes 
of Savonarola's triumph and death. As an offset to the scandalous 
public amusements which were encouraged by the Medici and their party, 
under his direction a pyramid of carnival dresses, obscene pictures and 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 



63 



portraits, cards, dice, gaming boards, etc., was formed in the square. The 
interior of the pyramid was filled with combustible miaterials and on the 
top was a monstrous image representing the carnival. A great proces- 
sion of citizens, monks and children, bearing red crosses and olive 




'THE FATES," BY MICHAEL ANGELO. 



branches, marched to the " pile of vanities," the little ones sung, the 
great bell of the Palazzo tolled, the multitude shouted and the pyramid 
went up in great clouds of smoke and sheets of flame. The same square 



64 



THE world's fair. 



witnessed his martyrdom, with two of his fellow monks, and there also 
his enemies saw him narrowly escape the " ordeal by fire " which was to 
prove him a child of God or of Satan. 

" The convent of San Marco, in which Savonarola lived during his 
protracted conflict with Rome, stands almost unchanged from his day. 
The walls are covered with exquisite frescoes by Fra Angelica, an artist 
of so devout a spirit that he is said always to have painted on his knees. 
In the cell occupied by Savonarola are shown his Bible, the margin 
filled with annotations in his own hand, and a volume of his sermons." 

PALACES AND GARDENS. 



Next to the Palazzo Vecchio is a great palace founded by Cosmo I., 
in the first floor of which are deposited the public archives and a library 

of 150,000 volumes and 12,000 MSS. 
The famous Florentine gallery of paint- 
ings, engravings, sculptures, mosaics, 
etc., occupies the second floor. The 
Pitti Palace, fronting upon a charming 
park containing marble fountains, green 
gardens and stately drives, is the mod- 
ern residence of the Grand Duke, and, 
while Florence was the capital of Ital)-, 
the home of the King. This is the un- 
fi n i s h e d monument commented b)^ 
Brunelleschi to perpetuate the greatness 
of the family which fell before the power 
of the Medici. 

Behind the palace are the Boboli 
gardens, with their solid avenues of 
trees and hedges, waterfalls, grottos, 
flowers and statues. " The city is seen 
through a line of solemn cypresses 
which stand out against the dazzling 
walls and towers beyond." 

The Strozzi palace is a noteworthy 
type of Tuscan architecture — but the 
list is too great to exhaust in detail. 
Besides famous palaces, villas and churches, Florence reveals the fact 
that she lives in the active present ; for hospitals, lunatic asylums, 
theatres, academies, museums, colleges of medicine and agriculture, 




DESIGN FOR AN ORNAMENT. 



PALACES AND GARDENS. 



65 



etc., etc., are not only flourishing but growing in number. The Floren- 
tines are to-day witty and eloquent, shrewd and industrious, educated, and 
stable lovers of good government and inclined to reform. 

Among the geniuses of Florence must be placed Benvenuto Cel- 
lini, who was intended for a musician, but chose himself to become one 
of the most eminent engravers of his day, if not of any age. He was 
stamped both as a genius and an incorrigible youth before he was 
sixteen years of age, and was banished from his native town for having 




PLACQUE BY CELLINI. 

taken part in a duel. He entered the service of the Pope, having 
pleased him with the die which he made, from which that magnate's gold 
medal was struck, and helped defend the castle of San Angelo against 
the imperial troops. Having become noted both as a soldier and an 
engraver, he was received back into the good graces of the Florentines, 
continued to Increase his reputation as an artist and a quarrelsome fel- 
low, fled from the city, returned to Rome, got into more trouble, went 



66 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



to France, appeared again in his native town, secured as a patron Cosmo 
de Medici, executed his " Perseus with the head of Medusa," and his' 
" Christ," and estabHshed his fame for all time. The best part of his 
smaller artistic works are his productions in metals, the embossed decor- 
ations of shields, cups, salvers, ornamented sword and dagger hilts, clasps, 
medals and coins. 

HISTORIC BRIDGES. 



The bridges which span the Arno are picturesque and historical. 
Farthest to the east is the Ponte alle Grazie, there being a chapel at its 
foot dedicated to Santa Maria delle Grazie. It was here that Pope 
Gregory X., from his temporary wooden throne, with the dignitaries of 

the city around him, ad- 
dressed the multitude who 
were assembled below in the 
dry bed of the Arno, and 
decreed that the Guelphs 
and Ghibellines should be- 
come friends. But though 
the leaders of the rival fac- 
tions kissed one another, they 
were not so ready to " make 
up," and, beginning to quar- 
rel again in less than a week, 
brought the ban of excom- 
munication upon Florence 
as a city. 

The Ponte Vecchio is 
called the Jeweler's Bridge, 
because it is lined with shops 
representing that craft. 
From the Ponte Vecchio the ashes of Savonarola and his brother 
martyrs were cast into the Arno by order of the Signoria, that they 
might work no miracle detrimental to the city's interests. T\\& Ponte 
a Santa Trinita is the most artistic of the bridges, its angles be- 
ing adorned with gems of art. A shocking and sad interest attaches 
to the Ponte alia Carraja. In 1304, a great May day fete was 
given in honor of a cardinal, and among other pageants, one had 
been prepared for him by which the horrors of hell were depicted 
by men, women and children, representing demons, who rushed about 
in flames of artificial fire, writhing and yelling, and punishing the 




BRONZE HELMET ORNAMENT. 



THE GENOESE. 67 

wicked, the scene of the terrible picture being laid upon a fleet of rafts 
and barges which covered the river below the bridge. The wooden 
structure gave way under its human load, and the spectators were pre- 
cipitated upon the performers, the resulting casualty snatching away 
some member of nearly every family in Florence. Dante, it is related, 
upon this occasion, conceived his idea of the Inferno. Not far from 
this bridge stands a house bearing an inscription to the effect that it was 
once the dwelling of Amerigo Vespucci. 

THE HOME OF COLUMBUS. 

The ancient inhabitants of Genoa, long before they were incorpor- 
ated with the Roman Empire, were Celts or Greeks ; this is as near as 
historians can get at their origin. In really historical times the Genoese 
were noted as brave and vigorous soldiers in the Roman legions and as 
untiring and enterprising merchants. When Genoa became a separate 
Italian state, she combined her military with her commercial strength, 
sturdily defending her galleys laden with rich merchandise, which covered 
the Mediterranean Sea, and carrying on wars with Pisa and Venice, 
which were her greatest rivals in trade. Pisa she crushed, while she was 
discomfited by Venice. In alliance with Pisa she drove the Saracens 
from Corsica and Sardinia and vigorously sustained the Crusades. She 
was torn with civil dissensions between Guelph and Ghibelline factions, 
democratic and patrician leaders, but in the sixteenth century the republic 
was restored by her great citizen, Andrea Doria. Her foreign rulers 
were expelled, German and Austrian influence was broken, and she, with 
other cities of Sardinia, became finally a portion of the kingdom of Italy. 

But whether ruled by Lombards, Turks, Germans, native citizens 
and princes, or the French, whatever her fortunes, she has wonderfully 
maintained her commercial standing. The city, which is so picturesquely 
situated on the Mediterranean Sea, reveals its ancient warlike and com- 
mercial character. Palaces, churches, hotels and private dwellings, ter- 
raced gardens and groves of orange and pomegranate trees, cover the 
slopes of the hills down to the shore, " while the bleak summits of the 
loftier ranges are capped with forts, batteries and outworks which con- 
stitute a line of fortifications of great strength and extensive circuit." But 
incorporated into the body of United Italy, the Genoese no longer dis- 
play their former bitterness toward sister cities. A few years ago, a 
portion of the huge chain which was drawn across the port of Pisa by its 
■citizens to keep out the invading fleet, and which had been carried off by 
the Genoese when they blocked up the harbor and destroyed the com- 
merce of their rivals, was returned to the Tuscan port as an evidence of 



68 THE world's fair. 

good-will. But the sting of those bitter contests still rankles in the 
memories of the states of Northern Italy, especially of Tuscany, where a 
proverb still crouches under the tongue of every citizen to the effect 
that Genoa has "a sea without fish, mountains without stones, men with- 
out honor and women without modesty." If the proverb had omitted 
most of its irony and had continued, "buildings without streets," the as- 
sertions would have contained more truth. 

From the sea and the splendid harbor, with its lighthouse 300 feet 
in height, the city and shores of the gulf form a grand panorama, but 
entering the port, it is seen that the streets are so narrow that foot passen- 
gers and mules, loaded with merchandise, pack them from side to side. 
They are dark, gloomy labyrinths, lined with tall marble buildings, many 
of them having been the elegant, spacious palaces of merchant princes, 
doges, and powerful families who ruled the state. The two most famous 
are the Palazzo Ducale, formerly inhabited by the doges (those supreme 
magistrates of the city for two centuries), and in which the senate now 
meets ; and the Palazzo Doria, presented in the sixteenth century to the 
great citizen who threw off the French and foreign yoke, and became 
President of the new republic. Other palaces contain large galleries of 
paintings, which are shown for a fee, but most of them are occupied as 
public buildings. Few persons, even of distinction, in modern Genoa, 
can afford to occupy these stately marble piles. They have, therefore, 
been transformed into hotels or business establishments; and it is a 
forcible reminder of the instability of worldly affairs to enter one of 
these imposing palaces, and find its noble porticos or lobbies supported 
by marble columns and occupied by hucksters and petty traders. 

Genoa has one of the most elegant theatres in Italy, and a statue 
of Columbus which is well worthy of notice. The Cathedral of St. 
Lorenzo, among her noticeable churches, is a grand old pile in the Italian 
Gothic style. And there is one line of streets — the Strade Balbi, 
Nuovissima and Nuova — which would be a credit to any European city; 
but the same decay of the nobility is here as in the lanes of Genoa. The 
stately palaces rise magnificently on either hand " built with a central 
quadrangle, bright with fountains, flowers and orange groves and open 
to the public view through a wide and lofty gateway," but the lower 
stories have, many of them, been transformed into mercantile establish- 
ments. 

NAPLES. 

Naples is famed for its beautiful bay, its noisy people, its historical 
associations, its ancient and excavated environs and the castles of Nor- 



69 



man, Bourbon and Saracenic origin scattered in and around it. The 
city is divided into two portions by a range of hills, the eastern division 
being the oldest and most thickly populated. It contains the chief 
public structures, but many of the streets are very narrow and paved 
with lava, the houses being of such great height that they appear to 
overhang the pathways. The western or modern section is intersected 
by broad and splendid thoroughfares, among the most famous being the 
Quay, which curves around the bay for three miles, on one side being a 
row of palaces and on the other a strip of beautiful parks, adorned with 
temples and fountains, groves of acacias and oranges. 

The architecture of Naples is brilliant rather than impressive. Of 
its 300 churches the Ca- 

thedral of St. Gennaro ^\^ ' l-soG^^ 

is interesting as con- " 

taining the tombs of 
Pope Innocent IV. and 
Charles of Anjou. Next 
to its museum, and com- 
ing before it in the 
minds of the populace, 
are the Opera House of 
San Carlo, one of the 
largest and most fash- 
ionable in Italy, and the 
"Teatro di San Carlina," 
where all classes flock 
to witness the perform- 
ances of Pulcinella, the 
Italian " Punch." 

The fashionable 
promenade of Naples is 
the Villa Nazionale, be- 
ing nearly a mile long 
and two hundred feet 
wide, planted with evergreens and oaks, and containing temples 
dedicated to Virgil and Tasso, winding paths, grottos and a ter- 
race extending into the sea. Of the most famous castles, Nuova, 
is near the port and consists of massive towers and fosses. Be- 
tween two of the towers is the triumphal arch erected in honor 
of the entry of Alfonso of Aragon into the city. Within the castle 
are the barracks and armory, and the whole structure is connected with 




WALL PAINTING, POMPEII. 



70 



THE world's fair. 



the royal palace by a gallery. The arsenal and dockyard, at which 
frequently lie the great iron-clads of the Italian navy, adjoin the castle 
and the palace. In the southern portion of the city is the Castle dell' 
Ova (of oval form), now used as a prison, and the castle of St. Elmo, 
situated on a bold point and said to be honey-combed under ground with 
mines and passages. The castle has been dismantled, however, and is 
now a military prison. Other castles, once occupied by the Swabian, 
Anjou and other reigning dynasties, have been transformed into prisons 
and courts of law. The municipal palace is a great structure, covering 
200,000 square feet of ground, in which all the city business is transacted. 

Several of the most 
noteworthy of the 
churches of Naples stand 
upon the sites of ancient 
temples, erected by the 
Greeks in the days of 
their prosperity in Sicil]^ 
and Southern Italy. The 
Cathedral is said to stand 
on the foundations of a 
Temple of Apollo ; and 
others on the ruins ol 
Temples of Mercury and 
Diana. In fact, the pillars 
and marbles of the heath- 
en structures have often- 
times been built into the 
later churches. The Ca- 
thedral itself is supported 
by more than a hundred 
columns of granite, which 
belonged to the edifice 
over which it was erected. 
In a subterranean chapel 
under the choir is depos- 
ited the body of St. Janu- 
arius, the patron saint of Naples. Two phials, said to contain his blood, 
are kept in the treasury of the cathedral. Upon occasions of public calam- 
ity and certain festivals devoted to him, the phials are brought forth 
and when, amidst the most solemn ceremonials, they are borne near the 
head of the saint (for he was beheaded) the body having been laid in the 




TOMBS OK POMPEII. 



THE BURIED CITIES. 



n 



shrine beneath the high altar, the coagulated substance is said to liquefy, 
bubble, rise and fall, the miracle lasting several days and being the means 
of averting plagues and the eruptions of Vesuvius. 

THE BURIED CITIES. 



Naples is a contraction of Neapolis, the Greek for " new city." 
The original city is supposed to have been located on a ridge called 
Posilipo, in which were the residence and tomb of Virgil, the latter being 
at the entrance to a dark, romantic grotto. This ridge separates the 
Bay of Naples from the Bay of Pozzuoli, or Baise. Around the shores 
of the latter beautiful sheet of water were the villas of the wealthiest 
of the Romans, and in its 
depths a corn-laden ship, which 
had barely escaped wreck, cast 
anchor and at the massive pier, 
which then stretched into the 
sea, discharged its grain and 
human freight. Its most pre- 
cious human burden, in view, 
of subsequent events, was the 
rugged, manly, eloquent Paul, 
who was on his way to preach 
the gospel at Rome. On the 
eastern shore of the bay fickle 
and fierce Mount Vesuvius 
towers over little towns and 
villages, which seem drawn to 
its fertile slopes by some unac- 
countable fascination. Its ancient crater, at one time partly filled with 
water, was the fortress of the rebel chief, Spartacus ; that was before 
it had buried Herculaneum and Pompeii, the former in mud, the 
latter in ashes. After eighteen hundred years of darkness, Pompeii is 
being brought to light, while a modern village stands over the mountain 
of mud which covers Herculaneum, 

The site of Pompeii remained long unknown, for the fearful convul- 
sion which destroyed it raised the sea beach to a considerable height and 
diverted the stream which formerly skirted its walls far from its ancient 
course. Finally, however, about the middle of the eighteenth century, 
operations were begun in earnest by the Neapolitan government, and 
owing to the fact that in many places sand, aslies and cinders had been 




GARDEN AT POMPEU. 



72 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



mixed with the immense vohimes of water which poured from the crater 
and formed a Hght covering of mud, the theatres, palaces, baths, houses, 
temples, with their statues and mosaics, were found in a remarkable state 
of preservation. Few skeletons were found, this circumstance going to 
show that most of the inhabitants were able to escape the general destruc- 
tion of the city. One remarkable exception to the comparatively small 
number of skeletons or casts, which have been excavated from the 
superb town or suburb, is the discovery made in excavating a Temple of 
Juno. From the position of the bodies it is evident that the deluded 
devotees had fled to their goddess for protection, and two hundred of her 

children there offered their last 
prayer to their divinity. The mi- 
nutest details of daily life and the 
most touching acts of heroism are 
revealed in the progress of these 
excavations. Taverns and bake- 
houses are entered, and the fruits 
and fish of the season are re- 
vealed, while loaves of bread 
which were never baked by arti- 
ficial heat are taken from ancient 
ovens. A sentinel at the city 
gate, young men and women 
clasping each other's hands, wo- 
men with their children, all escap- 
ing from the streets of the city 
to the life beyond — some courting death and others fleeing from it — 
such are faint gleams of the hundred tragedies which are drawn from 
buried Pompeii. 

THE DEAD AND THE LIVING. 

Within the Museum of Naples are the majority of all the curiosities 
and treasures which have been brought from Pompeii and Herculaneum ; 
and in many cases the similarity of the domestic life of those days and 
the present is most striking — even the shape of the Pompeiian loaves is 
the same as the Neapolitan. Pompeii, however, was the elegant suburb 
of Naples, the resort of the wealthy Romans who had villas in the 
suburbs, and whose palaces and gardens stretched from it for miles 
around the bay. So that we must not imagine that the streets of 
Pompeii ever resounded with the noise and bustle of Naples. 

The Neapolitans live in the streets, and of all the thoroughfares in 




MARBLE TABLE FOUND AT POMPEU. 



VENICE RISING FROM THE SEA. 73 

the world for shouting, jamming, screaming, singing, cursing ; for idlers 
intermingled with asses, mules, hand-carts and tradesmen working at their 
benches — for gesticulating, quibbing and throwing society into endless 
forms of confusion, the Street di Toledo, which intersects old Naples, 
stands without a rival in the world. Of late years, however, the mendi- 
cant classes have been decreasing and monks are not allowed to beg in 
publicc 

VENICE RISING FROM THE SEA. 

If Venus rising from the sea was a subject over which ancient poets 
lavished their choicest colors, " Venice rising from the sea " has been an 
equally favorite theme with more modern writers. Though threadbare, 
it is an ever fresh and romantic topic- — this rude tribe of Venetis fleeing 
from the Goths to the marshes and islands of the Adriatic and in two 
centuries building a large city, and in three a magnificent one, which 
covered eighty of those islands with arsenals, ship-yards, palaces, churches 
and great mercantile buildings. At first the people made salt and fished, 
then they traded in all parts of the world and established their commer- 
cial houses and factories in Rome and Constantinople, With the in- 
crease of their wealth their political power extended, and the Crusades 
made Venice the most powerful city in Lombardy, where almost all the 
riches of the East were concentrated. In the eighth century she be- 
came a republic, governed by a doge (duke). She was the acknowledged 
mistress of the Adriatic Sea, which for six centuries she annually 
"wedded" by casting a ring into its blue depths. " It is the only capital 
city of Europe that was not entered by an enemy from the downfall of 
the Roman Empire to the period of the French revolution." From its 
origin to that time it bore the name of a republic ; when the govern- 
ment was overthrown in 1797, it was the most ancient republic, even in 
name, which history records. With the discovery of the passage to 
India by way of the Cape of Good Hope, Portugal snatched from Venice 
the commerce of the East. The Turks took away Cyprus, Candia and 
her possessions in the Archipelago and Greece, Thus Venice was clipped 
so that she no longer soared, but was limited to her Italian possessions 
and European trade. These, in turn, contracted more and more, so that 
now, unlike Genoa, she is little else than a beautiful marble-like corpse. 

The Grand Canal divides Venice into two unequal parts, its tortu- 
ous course being intersected by 146 smaller channels. Over 300 bridges 
are thrown across these waterways, the most famous being the Rialto, a 
stone structure which spans the Grand Canal, Marble palaces, mighty 
church domes and public structures rise from the borders of the canals. 



74 THE world's fair. 

both great and small, but in summer and autumn, when the tides are 
highest and their green waters so distinctly reflect these architectural 
charms, Venice is a double vision of wonder and beauty. 

The center of attraction is the shrine of her patron saint, the Square 
of St. Mark. It is said that during the first part of the ninth century a 
fleet of Venetian merchantmen was driven by a storm into the Egyptian 
port of Alexandria. In gratitude to Heaven for their deliverance the 
crews obtained the supposed body of St. Mark and transported it to 
their city. This apostle thus became the tutelary saint of Venice. 

THE CHURCH OF ST. MARK. 

Upon the east side of the great square is the Church of St. Mark, 
built in the form of a Greek cross. Above the doorway are four famous 
bronze horses, brought from Constantinople, and great domes tower 
above the cathedral spire and minarets. The most stately of them all is 
the campanile, or bell tower, which rises over the cathedral " like a huge 
giant guarding the fairy creation at its foot." The tower is surmounted 
by the figure of an angel, which is thirty feet in height. St. Mark's 
cathedral is constructed of brick, incrusted with richly colored marbles ; 
the statues and profuse carvings are exquisite. Buildings for the accom- 
modation of the Patriarch, trustees of the church property, etc., etc., 
stand in stately array around the square. 

Ruskin gives this rich coloring to the interior of St. Mark: " The 
church is lost in a deep twilight, to which the eye must be accustomed 
for some moments before the form of the building can be traced ; and 
then there opens before us a vast cave hewn out into the form of a cross 
and divided into shadowy aisles by many pillars. Round the dome of 
its roof the light enters only through narrow apertures like large stars ; 
and here and there a ray or two from some far-away casement wanders 
into the darkness and casts a narrow phosphoric stream upon the waves 
of marble that heave and fall in a thousand colors along the floor. 
What else there is of light is from torches, or silver lamps, burning cease- 
lessly in the recesses of the chapels ; the roof sheeted with gold, and 
the polished walls covered with alabaster, give back at every curve and 
angle some feeble gleaming to the flames ; and the glories round the 
heads of the sculptured saints flash upon us as Ave pass them, and sink 
again into the gloom." 





THE FRENCH. 

llTHIN the veins of the French run streams of blood from 
Gallic (or Celtic), Prankish (Teutonic) and Roman sources. 
The aboriginal inhabitants were the Gauls who were conquered 
by the .Romans, and the Gallo-Romans were, in turn, subdued 
by the Franks, a confederation of the German tribes whose 
country was in the vicinity of the Lower Rhine. It was not 
until the eighth century that the Frankish monarchs were able 
to bring beneath their sceptre th^ Britons, the Burgundians and 
the Visigoths of Spain, and thus unite all of modern France 
in one empire. Their rule was afterwards extended so as to 
include not only France, but Northeast Spain, a large part of Italy, and 
Germany to the Elbe. In fact, as is well known, the ambition of Char- 
lemagne was to re-establish the Roman Empire, with France instead of 
Italy as the center of power. His successors were unable, however, to 
keep the empire intact, and from it were formed France, Germany and 
Italy. Thus the Germans and the Italians retained their national char- 
acteristics, and a new people and a new language were permanently 
formed, a union of Gallic, Teutonic and Italian elements. 

FRENCH MARRIAGES. 

It matters not in France if a man is old enough to be a grandfather, 
should he desire to marry he must either obtain parental consent, prove 
the opposition is irrational or that he is an orphan. The object of this 
outside supervision is to prevent hasty marriages ; to put a balance- 
wheel upon love's reeling brain. These marital regulations are really based 
upon the laws of the nation, and the process by which couples who 
think they are old enough and of sound enough judgment to know their 
own minds, call upon parents or guardians to show cause why the mar- 
riage should not proceed is legally known as " a respectful summons to 
consent" With all these legal and private precautions in the matter of 
marriages, the matrimonial alliances of the French are not productive of 
greater happiness or worldly comfort than those of other countries, where 

75 



76 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



more is left to the heart and the instincts of men and women than to 
personal worth. And it is undoubtedly the many formalities required in 
the various stages of introduction, acquaintanceship, courtship and be- 
trothal which has so decreased the number of marriages of late years. 
The birth-rate of France is also not only the lowest in Europe but in 
the world. 

THE BRETONS OF FRANCE. 

The extreme northwestern departments of France form a bold pen- 
insula, which extends into the Atlantic Ocean. A foggy, windy country, 

covered with stretches of 
moorland, cut up by well- 
watered and fertile valleys, 
with masses of granite ris- 
ing from the northern and 
southern districts and 
stretching into the sea — 
this, in brief, is Brittany. 
Peasants and fishermen, 
dressing and living as did 
their forefathers three cen- 
turies ago, many of the peo- 
ple still speaking the 
ancient Cimbric, or Welsh 
language, as they did when 
their brethren left them, in 
pre-historic times, and emi- 
grated across the English 
channel — these are the Bre- 
tons of Brittany. So slow 
are they to change that 
some of them even hold to 
the superstitions of the 
Druids, those savage and 
mysterious priests who, 
when the Romans landed 
A FARMER OF BRITTANY. upott the coasts of Great 

Britain, had obtained so tyrannical a sway over the Bretons and the 
Welsh, and who were offering up human sacrifices in their sacred and 
gloomy groves. Remains of the Druidical monuments, altars, and sepul- 
chres, are still found in Brittany, which was once subject to the same 




OUT INTO THE FIGHTING WORLD. 



n 



dominion. They are chiefly located in Southern Brittany, and are inter- 
mixed with Roman antiquities, mementos of Caesar's conquest prepar- 
atory to his invasion of Great Brittany, or Britain. 

The most remarkable of these remains is at Carnac, near Vannes, 
and consists of three groups of upright blocks, each separated from 
the next by the distance of about half a mile, yet with isolated blocks 
between showing that the series was once continuous. "In fact, the 
destructiveness that has for centuries been at work on these monuments 
makes it difficult to reconstruct the series, even in imagination. The 
inhabitants of the district have regarded them as a. standing quarry of 
building materials, available without the trouble of excavation, and vil- 
lages, churches, farmhouses, all around, are massively constructed of the 
Celtic spoils. At length, however, the spoli- 
ation has ceased, the remains are classed 
among 'historical monuments' and are 
henceforth comparatively safe. What they 
meant, what they were, no man can tell. 
The tradition is hardly surprising that repre- 
sents them as an army of heathen warriors, 
stiffened into stone at the adjuration of the 
patron saint of the sea. Some have seen in 
them the long drawn aisles of Druidical wor- 
ship ; but most modern investigators think 
that they were ranges of sepulchral monu- 
ments ; and the disinterred relics from be- 
neath seem to confirm the supposition." In 
this same department of Morbihan may be 
seen remains of Roman villas and bath- 
houses, great broken pillars, and in an 
island near the coast, is a wonderful cave containing a stone gal- 
lery of fifty feet in length, whose roof and sides are covered with engrav- 
ings and inscriptions which antiquarians have, so far, been unable to 
decipher. Cromlechs and avenues of upright stones, likewise mysteri- 
ouslysculptured and attributed to Phoenicians, Egyptians, Carthaginians 
and Celts are found on the sea coast ; and at Vannes, the principal town 
of the department, is a museum of antiquities which, although of great 
variety, throw no light upon the mysteries. 




A BEGGAR OF BRITTANY. 



OUT INTO THE FIGHTING WORLD. 

Brittany seems to be the hermitage of France. Except that past 
ages are there petrified it furnishes few connecting strands with the 



78 • THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

present. It has little historic ground. The land generally is so destitute 
of everything but rugged strength — which does not invite invasion, 
generally — that it has not been stained with any great battles, and the 
conflicts upon its soil are almost confined to those with Norman dukes, 
who had been given Brittany by the kings of France, and took a pride 
in actually possessing it. But down the coast to Nantes and La Rochelle, 
and along the banks of the stately Loire we commence to glide into 
territory fertilized with the blood of Catholics and Huguenots. The 
home of the Edict which so raised the hopes of the Protestants and the 
center of that disastrous emigration of skilled labor from France after 
its revocation, is an elegant city beautifully silmated on the Loire, some 
of its modern districts being Parisian in their finish and brilliancy. For 
nearly a century the royal assurance that Protestants might worship and 
spread their faith, except in Paris, was a shining light to their souls ; 
although they could not print religious books in cities where their tenets 
were not held and were obliged to observe the festivals of the state 
religion and furnish their share toward its support. Nantes was the 
Vatican of their faith, but La Rochelle was its Castle of San Angelo. 

Rochelle was truly the Little Rock of the Protestant cause, but 
under the blows of Richelieu's genius and the royal troops it was split 
in twain, and the French Reformation was temporarily crushed. Its 
old fortifications were destroyed and the present ones subsequently 
erected. The principal streets and squares of Rochelle are adjacent to 
its great harbor. Of the scores of boats which are annually launched 
from its ship yards the majority of them are built for the Newfound- 
land fishing trade. 

Continuing the route by the Loire, one finds on either hand restful 
hills of verdure, ruined castles, vineyards and villages. This is the 
route by rail to Tours, near which Asiatic civilization was effectually 
expelled from Western Europe. Tours happens also to be on the 
direct southern route from Paris toward Bordeaux and Spain, so that 
when the Saracens were defeated the capital escaped an invasion of the 
warlike Mohammedans. Upon the plain of Tours is said to have fought 
the soul of brave St. Martin, within the texture of his holy cape, which, 
in its shrine, was borne to the battle-field. Four centuries previous, 
having converted the idolaters of Gaul, he now drove back the hosts of 
southern infidels from the soil of France. At Tours the warrior bishop 
had founded a Christian cathedral, which the Saracens left to be pil- 
laged by the Huguenots and to be totally destroyed, with the exception 
of two towers which now stand — the towers of St. Martin and of Charle- 
magne. "The former of these stood at the western entrance of the 



OUT INTO THE FIGHTING WORLD. 79 

church, the latter at the end of the northern transept ; and their dis- 
tance apart shows what must have been the size of that building to 
which, for centuries, the people of France resorted as to a Delphic shrine." 

Other triumphs than those recorded on the field of battle are found 
in a small square village, of small square houses, surrounding a small 
square or park which is fronted by a small, neat church, and all hemmed 
about by shade and fruit trees and cultivated land. This is the colony, 
or reformatory of Mettray, about five miles from Tours on the opposite 
bank of the Loire, and founded by a Parisian lawyer and a viscount, for 
the purpose of training, educating, reforming and " keeping reformed " 
indigents and delinquents of irresponsible age, who were formerly com- 
mitted by the courts to the prisons of the state. Sevenpence a day is 
paid by the government for the support of the children whom it sen- 
tences to the strict but fatherly care of these philanthropists, the additional 
expenditures found necessary being met by the members of the " Pater- 
nal Society of Mettray." We do not mention the names of these faith- 
ful friends to each other and to the youth of the world ; for if one has 
not heard of Mettray and its founders he will assuredly become familiar 
with them when told that this movement is " the true parent of all 
institutions intended to reform and restore to society, and not merely to 
punish, juvenile delinquents." 

Between Tours and Orleans is the town of Blois, whose streets are 
flushed with water from public fountains which are supplied by a splen- 
did Roman aqueduct. But that is not enough to waste words upon, in 
this land of Roman aqueducts. There is a palatial castle, however, 
standing upon a hill and looking down in royal magnificence upon the 
little houses and crooked streets of the town. Within its walls was born 
Louis XII., and here Henry of Navarre was married. Four kings held 
their courts at the Castle of Blois, which witnessed, also, the murder of 
the duke of Guise, who held the reins of government with Catherine de 
Medici, mother of the young Charles. It was the scene of that same 
Catherine's death. 

As the dense and mighty oak forest of Orleans comes into view 
and the magnificent plain sloping toward the Loire, upon whose verge 
it stands, and then its walls and dry ditches, now softened by pleasant, 
shaded boulevards, the Maid appears in imagination, her slight form clad 
in armor leading the royal troops on to victory., inspired as they were by 
some mysterious electric current which went out from her young soul. 
Orleans has its commercial advantages and fine Gothic churches, but to 
the world Joan of Arc is all there is of it. The town contains three 
statues erected to her memo^s^ one of them being of the equestrian order. 



8o THE world's fair. 

THE PEOPLE OF THE PYRENEES. 

Having thus taken a quick journey through the western districts of 
France we have a little to say about the people of the Pyrenees, the 
shepherds and mountaineers and those residing in some of the neigh- 
boring villages. More particularly those aborigines, the Basques, merit 
attention. The general gate to the Pyrenees district, especially to the 
Basque country of both France and Spain, is the city of Bayonne, in the 
extreme southwest of the former country. 

In Bayonne French, Spanish and Basque mingle their distinctive 
tongues — the latter being as much distinguished by his harsh accents as 
by his national costume, his colored sash and his drooping cap. The 
city has, furthermore, a Jews' quarter (Saint Esprit) whose first citizens 
were the exiles from Spain, sent away by Ferdinand and Isabella, soon 
after the discovery of America. In the year of American independence 
they became citizens of France. 

Bayonne is strongly fortified, and, though besieged many times, it 
has never been captured ; hence its people fondly speak of it as the "vir- 
gin city." It was here, eighteen miles from the Spanish border, that 
Napoleon made the arrangement with Ferdinand VII. by which the 
crown of Spain was placed upon the head of his brother Joseph. And 
at the corner of the city wall stands a little stone structure, surmounted 
with a cupola, under which plays the fountain of St. Leon. The water 
first sprung from the ground under the stimulus of the precious drops of 
blood which fell upon it from the head of the decapitated saint, which he 
bore in his own hands to that spot. Bayonne has now one of the finest 
arsenals in France ; as is fitting, some may say, for the city which gave 
the name to the bayonet. But like many popular tales this one has 
wagged for long years, only to be at last arrested if not stayed com- 
pletely. " The French cross-bowmen were anciently called boionniers 
and bayna is Spanish for the sheath of a small sword. The sheath may 
have given name to its contents ; a supposition which seems to be con- 
firmed by several facts. The earliest bayonet sheaths were very elabo- 
rately ornamented, and the rules relating to military costume have a 
great deal to say about the position of the sheath." 

A short ride by rail from Bayonne is Biarritz, on the shores of the 
Bay of Biscay. In the month of August, before most of the tourists 
have arrived, the Basques of Basse Pyrenees assemble in its streets, 
crowned with flowers and ribbons, bearing with them the violin, tam- 
bourine, flageolet and drum, and busily preparing to perform their 
national dance, the " mouchico." This ended, they march to the shore of 



THE PEOPLE OF THE PYRENEES. 51 

the bay, and men and women, joining hands, rush out to meet the 
mighty surf, with songs and wild native cries. 

From Biarritz a few miles is a little village which is near the bound- 
ary of the two countries and at the angle of the eastern point of the 
bay. It was once quite a commercial port, but the waves of the Atlan- 
tic raged across Biscay for a week and destroyed its harbor and its pros- 
pects. Within sight are wooded and vine-clad slopes, the advance 
guards of the dignified Pyrenees. The red and white houses of the 
Basque peasants dash the quiet color here and there with cheerful con- 
trasts, and from hill and valley they swarm to the small Catholic church 
in the little village. The church is devoid of ornament, but once 
within, the worshipers arrange themselves in so quaint, not to say prim- 
itive, a fashion that no decorations are required by which to rivet the 
stranger's attention. The two ranges of galleries which run around 
three sides of the room are furnished with comfortable seats, all occu- 
pied by men. The women sit upon the floor of the nave, being accom- 
modated with simple cushions of black cloth embroidered with crosses. 

In a way, this church is historical, for in it occurred the marriage of 
Louis XIV, and the Infanta, Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip ly. of 
Spain. The door by which the royal couple entered is now walled up. 
This marriage was in fulfillment of treaty between the two monarchs, 
concluded the previous year, the conference taking place on a little island 
in Bidassoa river, which marks the boundary line between France and 
Spain. This bank of mud has been the scene of several royal confer- 
ences and treaties. 

A panoramic view of the French and the Spanish sides of the 
Pyrenees would make one imagine that the scenes were laid in lands 
which were thousands of miles apart. The northern slopes of the moun- 
tains are divided into charming valleys. Beautiful lakes and fine pasture 
lands lie below, while orchards and forests stretch far up the slopes. 
The Spanish side presents a series of abrupt, rugged terraces with scanty 
vegetation. 

The valleys of the Pyrenees cross them almost invariably, forming 
numerous passes, which are historically famous and from whose great 
heights the remarkable contrast which has been noticed above can be 
enjoyed in reality. The inhabitants of the mountains are, as might be 
expected, rugged, cheerful and independent. In many pleasant vales 
nestle pretty villages. The only disagreeable feature of the whole land- 
scape, in fact, are the large and fierce shepherd dogs, who consider every 
object not entirely familiar a deadly enemy to their herds and flocks. 
The cattle and sheep often have no other guardians than these faithful 



02 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

brutes except children, who will often be met far from any habitation, 
knitting contentedly, or engaged on some lace work. Near the summits 
of these lofty passes, sometimes all but buried in the shade of the upper 
valleys, are famous mineral springs to which the fair-faced ladies of 
France and gouty noblemen resort by the hundreds. The traveler thus 
meets modern styles as an offset to the brightly-clad peasants, the rough 
goat-herds and the Spanish muleteers, 

ROYALTY AND RELIGION. 

There are many interesting and picturesque little villages scattered 
along the line of the Pyrenees, but the beauties of the mountains com- 
pletely absorb them until one commences to investigate their historical 
attractions. Pau, for instance, in the Basque province of Basses 
Pyrenees is pretty enough, but the eyes are drawn from it to the soft dis- 
tant mountains and a sharp blue cone which pierces the sky, called the 
Pic du Midi d' Ossau, or the Bear; but the village contains the chateau 
of Henry of Navarre, and the chateau the chamber where Henry IV. was 
born "and where hangs the royal cradle under a canopy — a single tor- 
toise shell suspended from a tripod." 

Within sight of the peak is Lourdes, a shabby town among the 
mountains. Overhanging it is a great rock upon which stands a 
ruined castle said to have been built by Julius Caesar. But that never 
could have attracted hundreds of thousands of people to it. The town 
is built upon a plateau and contains convents and churches. Near the 
center of the plain is a great statue, representing a white-robed girl, 
standing in an attitude of religious ecstasy, her feet resting upon a rock 
wreathed with vines. Extending along the bank of the river Gave, and 
at the foot of the plateau upon which Pau is built, is a park, and within 
this, near the river, is a mass of rock containing a grotto crowned wnth 
a beautiful church. Above the rocky mound and the church is a higher 
ridge bearing a great crucifix upon its crest. The statue in the plain is 
that of " Our Lady of Lourdes," and the grotto Is where the sickly child 
of the poor peasant, according to her declaration, repeatedly was visited 
by the Holy Virgin, who caused a stream to gush forth from the cave. 
The bishop declared the miracle authentic, and hundreds of thousands of 
pilgrims have since repaired to the shrine, to have their bodies healed 
and their souls cleansed. The sacred spring is covered with a wire netting. 
In front of the grotto is a paved court extending toward the river which is 
covered with pilgrims seated upon wooden benches, standing or kneeling 
upon the stones. Near by is a stone tank, from which a priest draws 
the healing waters, which are brought from the grotto in pipes, and 



A WONDERFUL FORTIFIED CITY. 83 

close to the cave Is a ragged niche filled with crutches, canes and other 
proofs of its miraculous powers. The town has the appearance of a com- 
mercial mart, for no one of the thousands of devotees who journey to 
Lourdes neglects to carry away with him a photograph or image of the 
Lady, a water can, cross or rosary, and the winding street is filled with 
shops piled to the roof with these souvenirs. 

A WONDERFUL FORTIFIED CITY. 

In direct contrast to the attractions of Lourdes are those of Carcas- 
sonne, an important manufacturing and commercial center of Southeast- 
ern France. The river Aude divides the place into the new city and 
the old, and although the brilliant cloths of Carcassonne go even to 
Africa and South America, it is to the mass of fortifications in the 
ancient section that most steps are directed. Briefly stated It occupies 
the site of an ancient city of Gaul belonging to a Celtic tribe of Asia 
Minor, and in the fifth century a. d., the Visigoths took It from the 
Romans and held It. It commanded the most convenient routes into 
Spain over the Eastern Pyrenees and the fortifying of Carcassonne really 
commences from this period. During the thirteenth century the French 
kings added the style of fortifications prevalent In the middle ages to 
the rugged defences which the Visigoths had erected during their three 
centuries of occupancy. So that by the towers, portcullis, ditches, loop- 
holes, openings In the walls through which stone and hot oil were poured 
upon besiegers, battlements etc., one Is able to trace the style and devel- 
opment of the science of fortification for many centuries. The walls of 
the Visigoth, the Moorish and the French periods show the effects of 
mighty sieges, their huge foundations being in places battered as If by 
the shells of modern mortars. Above the principal gate of the fortress 
in a niche is the " defaced figure of Carcas, a Saracen woman who, 
according to the legend, alone remained In the city after a siege of five 
years by Charlemagne. The versions of the legend differ. One Is to 
the effect that she capitulated and presented the keys of the city to 
Charlemagne ; another that Charlemagne was about to raise the siege 
in despair, when a tower gave way and opened a breach for his troops." 

Northwestof Carcassonne, fifty miles, is Toulouse, in reaching which 
one at length departs from the wedge-shaped district whose base is the 
Pyrenees and Spain. By the careless brushing up of his history any 
one will remember the massacres and persecutions which Its citizens 
have suffered, and how, long ages previous to that. It was the capital of 
the Visigoths. Its principal church is said to contain the skulls of 



84 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

Thomas Aquinas and St. Barnabas, and relics of St. Bartholomew, the 
two Jameses and Philip of Spain, a thorn from the sacred crown, pieces 
of the true cross, the robe of the Virgin and a stone on which she laid 
the infant when he was born. The first bishop of Toulouse is, further- 
more, reported to have been born in Greece, to have journeyed to Pal- 
estine, to have sat at the feet of John the Baptist and of Jesus, to have 
followed Peter to Rome and to have been dispatched by him to his charge. 

THE VINEYARD OF THE EARTH. 

Leaving behind us the country of the Basques, descendants of the 
most ancient race of France, we strike across country from Toulouse, 
and traversing a dreary waste of sand, fir trees and thistles, we suddenly 
approach one of the most prolific vine-bearing districts of the world. 
Its border lies upon the western banks of the river Gironde, and in 
naming Bordeaux as its center the story is partly told. From near the 
city to the sea stretches a long, narrow plain, thickly covered with vine- 
yards. This strip, which is as famous as any in " the Vineyard of the 
Earth," supplies a strong, red wine which is the favorite article for 
export, sea voyages even seeming to improve its flavor. Many people 
imagine that when they drink " claret" it comes direct from this strip 
of country known as Medoc, but the truth is that the French do not 
recognize any such variety, dnd the claret, or clarified wine, is a mixture 
of several kinds "the strong-bodied varieties of Spain and Southern 
and Southeastern France being mingled (at Bordeaux) with the ordinary 
growths of Gironde to suit the English and American palate." Many 
of the wines receive their names both from the commune in which they 
are produced and the particular estate from whose great vineyards they 
come. 

The warm slopes of the Pyrenees, in the extreme southern part of 
France are covered with vineyards from which are obtained such famous 
wines as the Muscat. North of this section is the historic region from 
which we have lately traveled, forming a portion of an ancient province 
with Toulouse as its capital. The wines drained from the luscious 
grapes which grow from the 650,000 acres of vineyards are rich, but not 
as delicate as those of the Gironde. One single department of this 
section is said to yield more wine than the entire kingdom of Portugal. 

The Valley of the Rhone also appears as a rich section of the earth's 
vineyard. In the old province of Dauphiny, now Drome, is a lofty hill 
which rises from the river's edge like a great dome. Bacchus, could he 
have viewed its terraced sides, upon which the bright, warm sun is ever 




KEEIi 



IN THE FIELDS OF FRANCE. 



86 ' THE world's fair. 

playing, would never have left its great vineyards, which seem to lie over it 
in a lazy, not to say mellow attitude of enjoyment. The wines are called 
the Hermitage, from the fact that the richly-laden hill was formerly sur- 
mounted by a structure which served as the retreat of a Castilian courtier. 

Throughout the length of the sunny valleys of the Rhone and 
Saone, clear into the districts of old Burgundy, the hillsides are simply 
matted with vineyards. The true Burgundy wines are raised in the 
department of Cote d' Or, which is situated in the upper valley of the 
Saone, where it turns toward the German boundary. Through this 
department runs a range of hills, on whose southeastern slopes and 
spreading far over the plain below are the vineyards and rich estates 
which produce the wines of Burgundy. There are few more cheerful 
sights in the world than these hills of sunny France when their thous- 
ands of tons of grapes are ripe for the harvest. The sun floods them 
with so golden a light that the department itself has perpetuated the 
glorious sight in its very name — the "golden side." The methods of 
the manufacture of Burgundy wines are, however, rude and often filthy, 
and it is rightly said that the " golden side " produces some of the best 
as well as some of the worst varieties in the world. 

One department intervenes between the Burgundy and the Cham- 
pagne district, which lies among the headwaters of the river Seine, in 
Northeastern France. The ancient province of Champagne adjoined 
Burgundy on the north. Of the modern department, which is the par- 
ticular center of champagne manufacturing, the arrondissements of 
Rheims and Epernay produce the best article. Upon the slopes of a 
wooded mountain in Rheims and over an undulating plain on the Marne 
river, in Epernay, the champagne vineyards sun themselves. In Septem- 
ber and October the grapes are collected and selected. The first three 
pressings are placed in vats, and after the froth and fine, pulpy matter 
have separated, the juice is run into barrels and left to ferment. Within 
two months the clear wine is drawn from the dregs, and being skillfully 
mixed with the vintages of previous years, is allowed to rest until spring. 
The " sparkle " comes from a second fermentation, which occurs after 
the liquor has been bottled, and to obtain which it is sometimes found 
necessary to add sugar or brandy. Champagne is rarely exported until 
it is two years old, having to undergo other minor processes. 

FROM NICE TO CALAIS. 

We have a plan now to retrace our steps southward, down the val- 
leys of the Saone and Rhone to the sea and then journey north from 
Nice to Calais, taking a wide sweep of country as we go. 



MARSEILLES. 



87 



The first point on the Mediterranean coast going west towards 
Marseilles, which receives the attention of travelers (and it is often the 
last) is a dense group of buildings upon a bold promontory which extends 
defiantly out into the sea. It is the town of Monaco, a portion really of 
a small Italian principality governed by a prince who established an 
abbey in his province, abolished all taxes, and, as an offset to this gener- 
osity extended the operations of his gambling establishments from which 
he derived a truly princely revenue. As a watering place Monaco is 
almost a rival to Nice. Nice lies upon the shores of the Mediterranean, 
quietly sunning herself, her ladylike moods being thoroughly enjoyed by 
the invalids who resort to her for consolation and strength. Her sur- 
roundings are as pretty as herself. She is the petted French child of 
England. 

A sister to Nice is Cannes, a little to the west. Lord Brougham made 
it fashionable to Englishmen by living there and dying there. The grave 
is in the town's cemetery, marked by a large granite cross. The citadel 
of the " man in the iron mask" stands upon the Island of Ste. Marguerite, 
opposite Cannes. 

And Toulon, still west, is the great military stronghold of the repub- 
lic, with vast floating docks and arsenals. The fortifications were 
originally constructed for the benefit of the pirates of the Mediterranean. 
The English forces once held Toulon, but were driven out by Napoleon. 

MARSEILLES. 

As the tourist will have guessed, we touch at these minor ports 
merely to prepare him for Marseilles, the ancient Massilia founded by 
Ionian colonists from Asia Minor, 600 b. c. Whenever history has 
recorded her acts they have been opposed to despotism. She declared 
for Pompey against Caesar, and when annexed to the Roman republic 
became noteworthy, as a champion of popular rights, as she had 
become famous as a commercial and colonizing city and a seat of learn- 
ing. The old motto of the city was " Liberty under any government." 
This was engraved in golden letters over her city gate. Louis XIV. 
had it removed. " Under previous kings that may have been possible, 
but not under me," he said ; and the motto was removed from the gate, 
but not from the popular heart. Marseilles, of all the cities in France, 
seemed authorized to baptize her grand national hymn, which has 
worked so much good and so much ill. It was born in the brain of a 
young officer of Strasburg, it was sung by the author to the mayor's 
family, it flew from town to town without a name, it entered Marseilles, 



88 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

whose Girondists seized upon it and bore it with them to Paris, scatter- 
ing its trumpet-Hke notes throughout France. Thus it was named after 
the natives of the repubHcan city, "The Marseillaise." Even the Ter- 
rorists, who guillotined the Girondists, shouted it as their bloody cry. 

To the north of the modern city lies ancient Marseilles, with 
crooked and dirty streets and lanes, several squares, a singular public 
hall and the ruins of Roman ramparts. It is separated from the great 
commercial port by a broad avenue which bounds the city on that side 
and leads to a delightful promenade on the sea shore. 

DESERTS AND RUINS. 

Above Marseilles to the Rhone is a desert of small stones, and be- 
yond the river for some distance west is a plain of salt. This strange 
tract of Southern France, extending nearly to the Cevennes mountains, 
has been pithily called "Africa in Europe," and it lacks neither the mi- 
rage nor the fowl of lower Egypt to carry out the delusion. Aries, once 
a Roman city of importance, may stand as a Cairo in ruins, being at the 
apex of the Rhone delta and containing an obelisk of gray granite fifty 
feet in height, which was taken from the bed of the river in the seven- 
teenth century. Aries boasted one of those immense amphitheatres 
whose ruins are scattered so thickly over the Roman dominions. Re- 
mains of temples, a triumphal arch and an aqueduct, the Byzantine cathe- 
dral dedicated to Paul's companion, St. Trophinus, the town hall de- 
signed by Mansard and the great pagan burying ground (the *' Elysian 
Fields") make it worth one's time to loiter at Aries. When these at- 
tractions, and others, are exhausted it may be noted that its sausage fac- 
tories are famous throughout France for the excellence of their products. 

A few miles inland from the left bank of the river, on the borders of 
that salt plain to which reference has been made, is the city of Nimes. 
The city is unattractive except for its Roman ruins, which surpass in 
grandeur and preservation those of any other locality outside of Italy. 
Its stupendous amphitheatre in which 2,000 people were living previous 
to its restoration, and which has been used as a fortress by Visigoths, 
Saracens and Franks ; the museum of paintings and antiquities occupy- 
ing a beautiful and ancient Corinthian temple ; the remnants of Roman 
towers, gates and baths, not to mention the graceful three-storied aque- 
duct near the city, the fountain within the public garden which supplied 
the baths with water, and modern cathedrals and edifices — these studies 
in ancient and modern architecture make Nimes oife of the most attrac- 
tive places in Southern France. 

Returning to the river, the walled city of Avignon, over which looms 



LYONS AND HER WEAVERS. 89 

the vast palace of the popes is seen ; the scene of twenty-one great coun- 
cils of the church, the undisputed papal residence for seventy years and 
the home of the rival popes of Rome for fifty more. This sombre 
Gothic structure is no longer sacred to ecclesiastical purposes, it being 
devoted to the uses of a prison and barracks ; a sequence to the con- 
finement therein of the ambitious and unfortunate Rienzi, the last of the 
Roman tribunes, who had laid the astounding scheme before the King 
of Spain for the conquest of Italy. It was at the Church of Ste. Clara 
that Petrarch met his Laura. 

On the w^ay from Avignon to Lyons, which lies through the 
" Hermitage " wine district, are Orange and Vienna. The former exhibits 
an out-of-doors Roman theatre, a hill-side cut into many tiers of seats, 
and opposite a lofty wall which served as the background for the stage 
scenery. The bright little town has also the remains of a triumphal 
arch to show, and is celebrated in history as the center of the principality 
of Orange, founded by Charlemagne and passing into the hands of 
noble houses, the last one being that which became extinct with William 
III, Frederick I. of Prussia and a prince of Holland laid claim to the 
principality, but by treaty it was ceded to France although the princes 
of Nassau-Dietz are allowed to assume the title of " Princes of Orange." 

The approach to Lyons is through Vienne, the country from Orange 
being a succession of rugged landscapes in the valley of the Rhone, 
bordered by mountains and limestone cliffs in the distance. Vienne was 
the capital of Burgundy, and has the inevitable amphitheatre and aque- 
duct which accompany all ancient cities of importance. But when 
Pontius Pilate was exiled to this city from Rome, whither he had been 
sent in disgrace because he had ordered an unjust massacre of the 
Samaritans, Vienne was an obscure town of Gaul ; here he committed 
suicide, six or seven years after the crucifixion of Jesus ; and a century 
after Pilate's death the Christian churches of Vienne suffered the most 
shocking persecutions. 

LYONS AND HER WEAVERS. 

As the Gulf of Lyons Is said to have been so named from the fury 
of its gales, which frequently rage and roar across It like wild beasts, so 
the city of Lyons might justly have been christened with reference to 
the turbulent character of its people. Notwithstanding the blood and 
floods of water which have flowed through its streets, the serene Virgin, 
from the lofty dome of Notre Dame, which crowns the hill upon which 
the ancient city stood, appears to be dispensing her blessings over the 
great city stretching from the opposite river bank over an undulating 



90 .THE world's fair. 

peninsula, its outlying suburbs and villas being lost in the foot-hills of 
the Cevennes Mountains, while far to the east are seen the outlines of 
the mighty Alps, When the air is clearest Mount Blanc even rises in a 
mightier serenity and spirit of benediction. 

The city which stood upon this hill dates from before Christ's time, 
and became the center of the four great Roman roads which traversed 
Gaul. It was pampered by the emperors, destroyed by fire and by one 
of the Roman monarchs because it declared for his rival, was the scene 
of Christian persecutions and the martyrdom of St. Irenaeus, and was 
razed by Attila and most of its Roman monuments destroyed. But 
from the time the four Roman roads were made to center at Lugdunum 
the locality was marked by nature as the center of a world-famed trade 
and commerce ; and its modern sieges and insurrections have resulted 
from the radical character of its manufacturing laborers. 

A line of fortifications and forts is drawn around the city and car- 
ried over the hills which command its suburbs. To the north of the 
fortifications are two villages in the commune of La Croix Rousse, which 
were the centers of the labor uprisings of the past fifty years and which 
caused the authorities to protect the city with strong walls and cannon. 
They are principally inhabited by silk weavers, who also are scattered 
in other suburbs and throughout the city. This class of the population 
would probably number 150,000. hands, but they are not crowded into 
smoky, greasy factories whose tall chimneys disfigure the city. The 
dwelling of the master weaver is his factory, and here, with a few looms, 
himself, family and such hired operatives as he needs conduct the busi- 
ness. Raw silk and patterns are supplied him by the silk merchant, who 
really rents the looms and pays the wages of the hands. The Palais des 
Beaux Arts, formerly an ancient convent, is devoted to museums of art 
and science, chambers of commerce, schools of agriculture and pattern 
designing for silks. It also contains an establishment where the un- 
wrought silk from thousands of looms is brought to be reduced, by heat, 
to an equable weight and dryness. This system of silk manufacturing 
is cumbersome in the extreme, although the beauty and cleanliness of 
the city are enhanced, but it is forced upon the merchants of Lyons by 
scarcity of coal. 

The beauties of this principal manufacturing city of France, with 
her stupendous quays, her great bridges, churches, commercial societies 
and labor tribunals, her squares which witnessed the dark shadows of 
the guillotine, her gardens, villas, majestic river and distant wonders of 
sky and mountain — upon these we need not dwell ; for our interest in 
I^yons is founded upon her silk, her silk weavers and the gigantic efforts 



GLEAMS FROM EASTERN FRANCE. 9I 

which are being made by arbitration, under the shadows of great 
ramparts and a score of substantial forts, to quiet the waves of discon- 
tent which are continually arising from the confined and generally 
deformed body of the people. 

GLEAMS FROM EASTERN FRANCE. 

The distant view of the Alps obtained from the Church of Notre 
Dame, at Lyons, reminds one that from that commercial center went forth 
an influence which pervaded its valleys and was felt all along the banks 
of the river which rises in those heights and flows toward the Rhone. 
Peter Waldo, one of Lyons most wealthy citizens, sold all his goods 
and gave them to the poor. To the poverty-stricken of the city he then 
commenced to preach, for which he and his followers were excommuni- 
cated by the Pope. France, Italy and Bohemia took up his cause, and 
the sufferings of the Waldenses or Vaudois, in the valleys and mountains 
of Southeastern France, were but just begun when they were slaughtered 
by combined French and Italian armies and their children distributed in 
the villages of their foes. During the first portion of the present cen- 
tury Turin, and later Florence, became the center of their religious 
activities, which are now unshackled. 

The river Isere and the equally furious Durance river cut through 
the land of this hunted people, who, in France were driven to take ref- 
uge among the rocks and caves of half a dozen valleys. Even there 
they had no time to build fortresses, like that of Briancon which sur- 
rounds the village. The town itself stands on a rock which descends 
abruptly, on one side, to the river below, and is protected by a mountain 
from enemies in the rear. A sight of this rugged little town, with its 
rugged surroundings, is sufficient evidence of the truth of the statement 
that the stronghold has been besieged but never capitulated. West of 
Briancon is a grand mountain whose peaks and glaciers have witnessed 
amid their glooms and glistenings, thousands of refugees for conscience' 
sake. Briancon is the principal arsenal of the French Alps, command- 
ing the route to Piedmont, but Mount Pelvoux, to which the hunted 
Vaudois fled is mightier than it. 

North of the Isere river, in almost a direct line across the province 
of Isere from Vienne, in a wild and romantic valley, surrounded by 
mountain forests and rocks is an ungainly collection of sharp-roofed 
buildings which compose the monastery of La Grande Chartreuse. 
This is the headquarters of the celebrated order of monks which has 
remained unmolested since the eleventh century, when it was founded 
by St. Juno, not the patron saint of Prussia, but another St. Juno, born, 




FRENCH VILLAGERS 



GLEAMS FROM EASTERN FRANCE. 93 

however, in Germany. Amid these solitudes the fathers and brothers 
labor, watch and pray, hving a Hfe of self-denial. Tea, coffee and meat 
are even excluded from the monastery. Opposite the monastery build- 
ing is a rude structure in charge of some sisters of charity, used as a 
house of entertainment for lady visitors. But, whether to the male or 
female sex, hospitality is not distributed gratis, regular charges being- 
made for meals and lodging. The Grand Chartreuse is about thirteen 
miles northeast of Grenoble, a charming town smiling on the river 
banks at the glaciers in the distance, and hemmed in by natural and 
artificial fortresses. 

Every mile of country from Lyons to Calais, along the Jura Moun- 
tains, the tributaries of the Saone river and the Meuse, has some natural 
beauty or historic significance. The Moselle from Germany dips gently 
into French territory and Vassy, Chalons, Metz and Sedan tell of fierce 
fields of contention and disputed territory. Strasburg, on the Rhine, 
and the province of Vosges, a little to the west but a portion of France, 
teach the lesson that, though national boundaries may divide, the work 
of philanthropists is a common heritage. The labors of John Oberlin 
among the peasants and mountaineers of Alsace, by which he not only 
touched their consciences but taught them how to plow, plant and reap, 
have not only made whole communities and villages prosperous, but 
spread his name over Europe and America. In this region of war and 
philanthropy, where the Meuse has become almost a rivulet, is a little 
village in which stands a rude stone cottage which is treasured by France, 
for it was the birthplace and home of Joan of Arc, religious enthusiast 
and inspired warrior. " With touching characteristic sentiment she had 
asked as her only reward that her native village should be released from 
taxation, and the boon was freely accorded for many generations, the 
entry in the tax-register opposite Domremy being, ' cancelled on account 
of l.a Pucelle.' " 

An excursion through the picturesque country of the Meuse, with a 
divergence to the west, will bring one to Rheims, where the modest 
Maid saw Charles the Victorious receive the holy unction from the sa- 
cred "ampulla," or flask. It is said to have been brought down from 
heaven by a dove, that Clovis might be anointed, in the fifth century. 
For many centuries the kings of France were thus honored by the arch- 
bishop of Rheims. The beautiful Gothic edifice and famous cathedral 
of Notre Dame was built during the early part of the thirteenth century; 
in it the kings of France were crowned for nearly six centuries, Charles, 
the last of the Bourbons, was anointed, and the oil then failed ; although 
there is some doubt as to the genuineness of the article since the revo- 



94 



THE world's fair. 



lution, when the ampulla was broken and thrown away. A pious indi- 
vidual, however, is reported to have recovered a fragment, with a small 
quantity of the Clovis oil, which he presented to the archbishop. 

Amiens, in the department of Somme. is on the borders of old 
Normandy. It is an ancient Roman city, containing the ruins of a for- 
mer citadel, but it is chiefly noted for its gorgeous cathedral and as 
being the birthplace of Peter the Hermit, who led so many knights of 
Normandy on disastrous crusades. 

CHEERY NORMANDY. 



Perhaps the reader will already have penetrated our design, which 
has been to rapidly encompass France and approach its superb capital 
by way of Normandy, which embraced the Seine and held the key to 




RENAISSANCE WINDOW, ROUEN^ 



Paris. The Northmen, or Normans, during the ninth century, repeat- 
edly ascended the river with their great fleets to carry consternation to 
the city. One of their greatest chiefs finally married the king's daugh- 
ter, and received a tract of land north of the river to the sea, which 
was the foundation of Normandy. The chief Rollo became first duke 
of Normandy and the ancestor, six generations away, of William the 
Conqueror. Other accessions followed, until the dukedom included that 
part of Northwestern France embraced in the present departments of 
Seine-Inferieure, Eure, Calvados, Orne and Manche. Normandy was 
joined by Brittany on the southwest, and two more dissimilar districts 
or people seldom came together. 

Rouen and Caen were the chief cities of Normandy, the former 
being its capital ; and the most satisfactory and cheery approach to Paris 
and to France is by way of the coast of Normandy, with its sunny 



THE CONQUERORS HOME. 95 

watering places and fresh, quaint looking people. Rouen, even to its 
churches, is bright with sunshine and the cheerfulness of its citizens. 
There are no gloomy cathedrals in Rouen. Notre Dame, profusely 
ornamented and surmounted by a dome 470 feet high, still has its inte- 
rior flooded with sunlight from 1 30 windows. And yet it contains tombs, 
including that of Richard Coeur de Lion ; the dust into which the " iron 
heart " has mouldered is now in the Rouen museum. Near the cathe- 
dral is the Abbey Church of St. Ouen, its light, lofty tower terminating 
in a crown of fleurs de lis, and its bright aspect being charmingly softened 
and mellowed by its two great rose-windows. Public squares are not 
the boast of Rouen, but it contains one which attracts thousands of 
travelers. It is the scene of the burning of Joan of Arc, and where her 
body was given to the elements is a drinking fountain without water and 
an unworthy statue of La Pucelle. 

THE CONQUEROR'S HOME. 

Before finally starting Paris-ward it would be a sad neglect of duty 
not to take a run into the native land of William the Conqueror. Caen 
is ten miles from the English Channel and about twice as far west of the 
Seine's mouth. A quaint combination it is of modern life surrounded 
by an ancient atmosphere. It has fine promenades, broad streets, large 
buildings and beautiful churches. At one extremity of the town is a 
massive, severe, but noble looking structure, the Church of St. Etienne, 
built by William and in which he was buried. Saint Trinite, an elegant, 
light and restful church, stands at the other end of Caen. This was 
either founded by Queen Matilda, or erected for her, according to her 
plans, by William the Conqueror. What a gulf between the mighty 
William and Beau Brummel, the leader of the London fashions ! Yet, 
in death, they were joined at Caen, although separated by centuries of 
time. 

Twenty miles or more inland from Caen is a picturesque country of 
river and wooded cliffs. Built upon such cliffs is a quiet manufacturing 
village, over which, on a bold ascent, towers the old Norman castle of 
Falaise. From its tower a sweeping view of Normandy may be obtained, 
but no one mounts into the gloomy castle chambers for landscape see- 
ing — rather to view the room in which William the Conqueror is said to 
have been born. The castle consists of two portions, the large, square 
Norman keep, standing at the highest part of the rocky eminence, and 
a circular tower, of later construction, connected with the former by a 
passage. Around all is a line of fortifications following the irregular out- 



96 THE world's fair. 

lines of the hill. In the keep, so it is said, the Conqueror was born, and 
the guides pretend to show the very room where the ei'ent took place and 
.the identical window from which his father, Duke Robert the Magnifi- 
cent, first saw Arlette, the daughter of the Falaise tanner. The older 
portions of the castle show marks of the sieges which it has withstood, a 
breach being still pointed out which was the result of seven days' can- 
nonade by Henry IV. 

Nearer the channel than Caen and west of it is the town of Bayeux, 
which has been made historically famous by the most elaborate and 
gigantic piece of needlework in the world. In a large room adjoining 
the public library, preserved under glass, is displayed "a piece of picto- 
rial needlework supposed to have been done by Queen Matilda and the 
ladies of her court, representing the events connected with the conquest 
of England. It Is worked, like a sampler, in woolen thread of different 
colors, is 20 inches wide and 214 feet long and has 72 divisions, each 
with a Latin inscription designating its subject. It is of great historical 
value, since it not only exhibits with minuteness Norman customs and 
manners at the time of the Conquest, but pictures events of which no 
other record exists — among others the siege of Dinan and the war 
between the duke of Normandy and Conan, earl of Brittany." 

The remarkable thing about this remarkable piece of tapestry is its 
fresh, bright appearance, notwithstanding that it has been exhibited in 
Paris and nearly every town of France. The cathedral which it was 
originally intended to adorn has been leveled with the ground. Of the 
historical events which it portrays the most important is the invasion of 
England, by which it can be learned better, than from any description in 
words, how William's cavalry was transported and the very construction 
of the Norman weapons and their spades for use in earthworks and forti- 
fications. The horses are being swung out of the ships in cranes and 
pulleys, and the spades, on account of the scarcity of iron in those days^ 
are only tipped with that metal. A great banquet precedes the battle 
of Hastings, which is depicted with spirit and vigor, considering that 
most of the figures are coarsely worked in green and yellow colors ; but 
the whole story is told — the great cavalry charge, the Conqueror in the 
lead, sitting like a rock on a gigantic black horse, the consternation of 
his followers at his reported death, the rout of the enemy and Harold's 
death and the stripping of the wounded after the fray. The figures in 
the tapestry often suggest an entire ignorance of anatomy, and the per- 
spective is Chinese in its character, but the attitudes and facial lines are 
frequently worthy of a Nast. As with everything of interest which 
originated long ago, doubt has been thrown upon the authenticity of the 



NORMAN GIRLS. 97 

tapestry , but whether Matilda and her ladies did work it or not is of 
secondary importance to the fact, which is firmly established, that it was 
made soon after the Conquest by somebody who was directed by an 
intimate, at least, of the royal couple, and the artist was a close observer, 
if not a genius. There is evidence that the date of its construction was 
near that of the Conquest, and also that Odo, bishop of Bayeux, the 
Conqueror's half-brother, ordered and arranged the work to the exact 
length of the walls of the church round which it was to have been placed. 
Still another delay is in order before starting toward Paris — caused 
by a desire to visit Mont St. Michael, which is a singular cone of granite 
rising from the English Channel at the angle where Brittany and Nor- 
mandy come together. The mount, which shoots from a level expanse 
of shifting sands, is surmounted by a castle and a church ; and lower 
down clusters of houses hang to it, occupied by fishermen. The castle 
was a great Norman stronghold during the middle ages, and for three 
hundred years the magnificent spire of the church, surmounted by the 
image of St. Michael, the patron saint of the coast, has been a beacon 
to mariners approaching the shores of France. Monks and dukes have 
made their pilgrimages to this stronghold of arms and religion. It is 
from St. Michael that William the Conqueror and Harold marched on 
Dinan, the strongest fortified town of Brittany ; and the treacherous 
white sands around the mount which the warriors skirted on their way 
to Brittany are faithfully depicted in the Bayeux tapestry. Within the 
great castle is the spacious Gothic hall of the Knights of Mont St. 
Michael, "with its carved stone-work and lofty roof, supported by three 
rows of pillars, beautiful in proportion and grand in effect, although the 
Revolution, as usual, has left us little but the bare walls ; but as we look 
down upon it from a gallery it is easy to picture the splendor of a ban- 
quet of knights in the twelfth century, with the banners and insignia of 
chivalry ranged upon the walls." 

NORMAN GIRLS. 

Again, before returning to Rouen, the tourist must not fail to visit 
a few of the quaint Norman villages, with their tall, peaked-roofed 
houses and neat women, wearing their lace caps, chatting and eating in 
the market-place. The caps bloom, like flowers, into every conceivable 
form, from that of a helmet to that of a Turk's military cap, a starched 
funnel or a modern bonnet. Wandering from the market again, we 
find " houses built out over rivers, looking like pieces of old furniture, 
ranged side by side, rich in color and wonderfully preserved, with their 



96 THE WORLDS FAIR, 

wooden gables, carved in oak of the fifteenth century, supported by 
massive timbers, sound and strong, of even older date ; many of these 
houses, with windows full of flowers, and creepers twining around the 
old eaves, and long drying poles stretched out horizontally, with gay- 
colored clothes upon them flapping in the wind — all contrasting curi-' 
ously with the dark buildings." 

But the little villages, like the larger towns, are attractive as much 
for the many delicate threads which connect them with Paris and modern 
life as for the unaffected air of their people and their historical glamour. 
Nearly every house is a manufactory ; and though its inmates keep their 
liearts with the days of simple, merry Normandy, their eyes look toward 
modern. Paris and their fingers clasp considerable of her money. From 
Cherbourg often wander wide-awake, finely-mustached, loosely-dressed 
French marines, who leave their gloomy iron clads at anchor in the great 
harbor to gossip with the pretty maidens of Normandy in the market 
places. The girls may have walked in from the country with their 
baskets of vegetables, or from the sea shore with their shining captives. 
Their eyes are brighter than their fish and their cheeks fresher than 
their vegetables, and yet they will tell you that though many of their 
products of sea and land reach Paris, they never have been there, but, 
some day, hope to reach the beautiful city ; and their hope is not unreas- 
onable, as one will see by glancing at any good map of France, for no 
matter how small the town there is the railroad which runs to Paris. 

THE APPROACH TO PARIS. 

Having encompassed Paris we are now at liberty to approach it from 
any direction. If we come from the southeast we must stop at the town 
of Fontainebleau, with its royal pleasure palace and gardens embedded 
in its solid square miles of forest. The artificial and natural charms of 
this royal retreat date from the tenth century, when the chateau was 
founded. Two centuries later it was rebuilt, subsequently enlarged, 
fell into decay, repaired and embellished and from the sixteenth century 
all the monarchs of France added something to it. Historically it is fa- 
mous for scenes which are guide posts to the domestic happiness, the 
miseries, the supposed necessities of state in the life of Napoleon, and it 
was from Fontainebleau that he signed the act of abdication. Here also 
the emperor had detained Pope Pius as a prisoner for nearly two years. 
Treaties and important state transactions and magnificent fetes under 
the Louises and Napoleons have, after Versailles, made Fontainebleau 
the most fitting approach to that great city which so fascinatingly com- 
bines stupendous historical events with irrepressible gayety. 



A BIRDS-EYE VIEW. 99 

"The gardens of Fontainebleau," it is pithily said, "will fascinate the 
lovers of elaborate arrangement and orderly primness, but are not other- 
wise rem^arkable except for their great fish ponds. On the whole, they 
scarcely repay a walk round, especially when outside them stretches the 
magnificent forest, with its heathery slopes, dark fir woods, vast expanses 
of green sward, planted with beech and oak, and a surface broken into 
wild picturesque gorges by the scars and rocky projections of the sand- 
stone." 

A score of miles nearer Paris, going in the same general direction, is 
Vincennes, a fortress where are trained the best marksmen of the French 
army, and which has likewise a chateau and park. The castle, a repre- 
sentative of the middle ages, is rectangular in shape, and was once sur- 
rounded by nine great towers. Only one now remains, 170 feet high, 
with walls seventeen feet thick. From the time of Phillippe de Valois 
until the days of Louis XV. the chateau was a royal residence. It then 
became a prison for such personages as Henry IV, the Prince of Conde, 
Cardinal de Retz, Mirabeau and the Due d' Enghien who was shot in 
the moat of the castle. 

We may still verge to the west and enter the city by the Orleans 
railway or still further west by way of Versailles. Without another 
delay, except to dwell for a moment upon the attractions of Versailles 
and its kingly palace, we shall approach the environs of Paris from the 
southwest. The road from the capital, ten miles distant, becomes an 
avenue in Versailles, dividing the miniature Paris into two parts. The 
palace, formerly priory and castle, under the princely treatment of three 
Louises, reached its present state of magnificence and down to the time 
of the Revolution was one of the residences of the court. The Revolu- 
tion was born in the palace of Versailles by the meeting of the states — 
general therein. With the passing over of the blackest clouds of that 
storm the palace became a museum, filled with pictures of French heroes 
and monarchs and scenes in their careers. The gardens, terraces, aven- 
ues, squares and public fountains of Versailles are stately rather than 
picturesque. In Versailles King William was proclaimed Emperor of 
Germany and the capitulation of Paris signed. On May 5, 1889, the 
brilliant ceremonies were conducted, at Versailles, which inaugurated 
the great World's Fair — a gigantic celebration of the centennial anniver- 
sary of the French Revolution. 

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW. 

It is from the direction of Versailles that one obtains the best bird's- 
eye view of Paris. The city lies in a hollow, encircled by two ranges of 
hills, the inner ones being the lowest and occasionally falling within the 



lOO THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

municipal limits. The outlying heights are from two to four miles from 
the city walls and upon them are posted the forts, or their ruins, which 
command every approach to Paris. Mount Valerien to the west, over- 
looking one of the railroads to Versailles, is the highest point from which 
Paris may be viewed. The Seine is seen entering from the southeast, 
winding among its great buildings, boulevards and parks, and divid- 
ing its bewildering magnificence into two unequal parts, the northern 
being much larger, and then sweeping boldly, so as almost to wash the 
heights of St. Cloud, it flows northeast past scores of pretty suburbs and 
villages. Just as it seems destined to pursue an unvarying course 
toward Calais it bends like the neck of a stately swan toward the green 
fields and kind people of Normandy. 

OLD PARIS 

In his Commentaries, Julius Caesar is the first historian to notice a 
collection of mud huts built mostly upon two islands in the river which 
we now call the Seine. This was the chief settlement of the Parisii, a 
Gallic tribe, which he conquered. Those islands are still where C£esar 
saw them, but their mud huts have given place to the Cathedral of Notre 
Dame, the Palais de Justice, a grand hotel and other beautiful religious 
and secular edifices. An elegant bridge connects the two islands, from 
which may be seen that Notre Dame, the most impressive of Parisian 
churches, with its ancient rose-windows and massive towers. Near by 
rises the arrowy spire of Saint Chapelle, a blazing and glittering pile, 
built by St. Louis to contain the relics which he had brought from the 
Holy Land, but which was chiefly devoted to royal marriages, christen- 
ings and coronations. This church is within the precincts of the Palace of 
Justice, an immense structure containing various courts of law, and upon 
this ancient ground of mud huts, within hailing distance of the Palace, is 
the prison of the Conciergerie, scene of the sorrow and rage of Marie 
Antoinette, Danton and Robespierre, and of the heart-rending suspense 
which racked the bodies and souls of the prisoners during the Reign of 
Terror. Here prisoners are still confined, pending their trial, and La 
Force is yet the greatest of the prisons of Paris. 

NORTH OF THE SEINE. 

It is but a short walk from the nucleus of ancient Paris to the cen- 
ter of the modern city. On the opposite or northern bank of the river, 
where Csesar found scarcely a hut of mud, are the ruins of the Tuileries 
and palace of the Louvre, in the famous gardens of the Tuileries, with 



NORTH OF THE SEINE. lOI 

the restored Hdtel de Ville which is directly across from the upper end 
of the Island of La Cite. In the vicinity of the Tuileries is the Palais 
Rdyale, the extensive court which it surrounds having echoed to the 
trumpet tones of Desmoulins, who cast that vast wave of fury against 
the Bastile, whose former gloomy walls are now remembered by the 
handsome public square which is opposite the Place Royale. It is known 
as the Place de la Bastile, and is a short distance directly east of the Place 
de r Hotel de Ville, for many ages the scene of public executions and 
the spot at which some of the bloodiest deeds of the Revolution were 
perpetrated. 

The Place de la Concorde connects the gardens of the Tuileries and 
the thousand feet of ruins composing the old palace with the Champs 
Elysees, that grand popular avenue, at the western extremity of which 
is Napoleon's Arch of Triumph, the largest and grandest of its kind in 
the world. It is also the boundary of the magnificent district of Paris 
in that direction. 

The Place de la Concorde is worthy of facing this arch of architect- 
ural triumph, but like all the other ambitious and successful works of 
beauty which grace the city, the Revolution has cast its shadow and dashed 
the blood of Paris over its marble monuments and into the waters of its 
fountains. In the center of the square is an obelisk covered with hiero- 
glyphics which stood, over thirty-three centuries ago, in front of a great 
temple of Thebes. It was placed there by Rameses II., one of those 
hoary monarchs whose greatness we only feel through all the mists of 
ages, and may have been brought almost face to face with the monument 
to Bonaparte's fame in order to teach the lesson of the weakness of human 
achievement. The shaft of the Egyptian king marks the site of the 
guillotine which cut short the lives of Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, 
Philippe Egalite, Danton, Robespierre and a host of others. 

On the Champs Elysees, within sight of the Place de la Concorde is 
the Palace of Industry, or the Paris Exposition, constructed originally 
for the world's fair of 1855 and now a permanent exhibition. The ex- 
position of 1867 was held on the Champ de Mars, the military parade 
ground on the opposite side of the river, just around a bend. 

The city residence of the President of the Republic, the Elysee 
Palace overlooks the avenue, while further away from the river than we 
have been, north of the Tuileries and Louvre, are the most convenient, 
tasteful and magnificent theatres of Europe, and just on the outskirts of 
this center of comedy and tragedy, tears and laughter, music, song and 
dance, is the center of no insignificent section of the financial activity of 
Europe, the Bourse and Tribunal of Commerce — a square, Roman-like 



I02 THE world's FAIR. 

Structure, supported by a stately array of pillars and approached by a 
grand stairway. 

In the theatre district between the Palais Royale and the Grand 
Opera House is the Place Venddme, with a second column of Trajan 
in its center, commemorative, however, of Napoleon's campaign of 
1805 ; the before-mentioned place of amusement also fronts upon a 
square which would seem more magnificent, if admiration were not 
drawn from it to the structure which outshines it as the sun does the 



Not far north of the Champs Elysees is an imposing structure 

raised upon an ponderous 
platform, surrounded by a 
colonnade of pillars, carved, 
frescoed and gilded. If it 
was not built by some of 
the old masters of Greece, 
it is a wonderful and mod- 
ern imitation of their best 
work. The Madeline is a 
Christianized Grecian tem- 
ple, one of the triumphs 
of modern architecture, 
although not original in its 
character 

SOUTH OF THE 
SEINE. 

The district which lies 
on the southern bank of 
the Seine opposite the 
islands which were the nu- 
cleus of old Paris, and 
A MODERN FRENCH PAINTER. which corresponds to the 

modern city from the Place de la Bastille, or Ouartier St. Antoine, 
to the Arch of Triumph, is covered with gardens, military grounds, 
scientific institutions and churches. The immense wine market is near 
the river on the opposite shore from the arsenal. A short distance from 
the Seine but directly south of the great church of Notre Dame, on the 
Island of La Cite, is the College of France, one of whose objects is to 
apply science to industry, and for that purpose furnishes the public with 




ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. IO3 

gratuitous lectures. Another stratum is als© reached by its free lectures 
in the departments of philosophy and letters. 

The Institute of France, across the river from the Tuileries, is the 
result of two centuries and a half of the country's best thought, being a 
combination of five academies, whose specialties are the maintenance of 
the native tongue in its purity ; the study of universal history and com- 
parative philology, of the sciences, of the arts and of moral philosophy 
and affairs of state. The parent of the Institute was the French Acad- 
emy founded by Richelieu. This, and the other academies which were 
merged into the Institute, continued until abolished by the republican 
convention of 1793, but were consolidated under the different names. 
National, Imperial, and France, by the Directory, Napoleon and Louis 
XVIII. respectively. 

The Pantheon, or Church of Ste. Genevieve (Paris' patron saint) 
looms up from beyond the College de France and the other educational 
institutes and edifices in this vicinity. It is in the form of a mighty 
Greek cross, united under the dome which rises nearly 200 feet. The 
Pantheon was originally built as a monument to celebrated Frenchmen, 
and still contains the tombs of Rousseau, Lagrange, Lannes and Vol- 
taire, with many others. 

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 

Among the scores of other churches which it has been impossible to 
describe is that of St. Vincent de Paul. To worthily commemorate the 
grand character of Vincent de Paul it could not be too stately or too 
beautiful. Although patronized by cardinals and royal families, he chose 
to labor among peasants, convicts and beggars, endeavoring to relieve 
them bodily, mentally and spiritually. In this field, also, so disinterested, 
able and tender were all his ministrations that he received the assist- 
ance of counts and nobles in establishing missions among the poor and 
hospitals for the sick. In much of his ecclesiastical work he was 
the adviser of Cardinal Richelieu ; but the proximity of such a lumi- 
nary did not dim him. He continued to be the apostle of thieves 
and sinners. Wherever sin, famine and suffering were creating 
the greatest havoc, there was Vincent de Paul. The crowning 
work of his life was the founding of the order of Sisters of Charity 
and a hospital for the poor of Paris. A royal edict obliged 
every beggar to enter this institution or to work for a living. 
This great and good man was canonized seventy years after his 
death. 




ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 



VICTOR HUGO. 

VICTOR HUGO. 



105 



There was another mighty man of Paris and of France, whom the 
world claims as one of her geniuses, and who was as different from St. 
Vincent de Paul as the rushing whirlwind is from the broad, steady- 




BUST OF VICTOR HUGO. 



flowing river. Victor Hugo was precocious, and not the only exception 
to the saying (which no doubt issued from the jealous soul of some 
average, disappointed mortal) that he who is early ripe is early rotten. 
Before he was thirty years old he was famous, and continued to add to his 



I06 THE world's fair. 

fame for over half a century. His mother was a native of La Vendee; 
his father was high in the good graces of Napoleon. He lived a por. 
tion of his time with his mother in Paris, the balance with his father in 
Italy and Spain, or followed his own inclinations ; that is, he was his 
own master until, as an outspoken member of the Assembly, he offended 
Napoleon and was banished from France for life. He took up his res- 
idence in the Isle of Jersey, and although he did not return to his native 
land for twenty years, he flooded Europe with political pamphlets, phil- 
osophical dissertations, poems, novels and dramas, which, in turn, 
enraged, bewildered and charmed the world. Whatever he did created 
a sensation, and, genius though he was, he perhaps strove too often 
after the sensational at the expense of leaving a less enduring mark 
than if he had been less conscious of himself. As a lyric poet and a 
novelist, he has been crowned as king by the French people. His death, 
in May, 1885, extinguished a living light, both bright and warm, whose 
influence will be felt for generations to come. 

THE MILITARY QUARTER. 

The western portion of this district of churches and colleges (where 
also are the magnificent Luxembourg gardens and palace, with the 
Archiepiscopal palace) is the military quarter of Paris. Next to the 
Archiepiscopal palace near the Seine is the soldiers' asylum, with its 
spacious courts, the H6tel des Invalides. Within the limits of the 
Invalides is the great porphyry sarcophagus of Napoleon Bonaparte, 
standing directly under the masterly dome of the Church of St. Louis. 
To the south of the asylum is the military school, and adjoining its 
grounds and fronting on the river, is the famous Champ de Mars, scene 
of historical events and grand military reviews. For one week after 
July 7, 1790, an army of men and women was seen day and night, upon 
the grounds, working like maniacs in their eagerness to get all in readi- 
ness for the grand festival in honor of the king who was to bow to the 
constitution of the people. 

BOULEVARDS AND PARKS. 

The Paris Observatory is the rear guard of this vast district, which 
is a union of church, school and arms. With even this imperfect sketch 
of the wonders of Parisian glory in all the departments of modern civil- 
ization — not even mentioning her scores of great hospitals, hotels, 
manufactories, libraries and museums — we must say a word about her 
boulevards, parks and theatres. 



THEATRES AND DELICATE ECONOMY. IO7 

The most famous of the boulevards are within the Hmits of the old 
city walls and cover the district already described from the Church of 
the Madeline to the Place de Bastile. Here are the most beautiful Par- 
isian stores, the banking houses, theatres, centres of gossip and of trade. 

We have already noticed the avenue of the Champs Elysees and 
the triumphal arch standing in it, or rather in the Place de I'E^toile, into 
which the stately thoroughfare expands. From this square radiate ten 
broad avenues, the most magnificent of which is the avenue Bois de 
Boulogne, divided into road ways, bridle paths, footwalks, bordered with 
bright and ingenious gardens and fringed with villas and private grounds. 
The avenue leads to a park of the same name, in which art and nature 
seem to strive for the prize of beauty and which is one of the most fav- 
orite resorts of all classes. It is outside of the fortifications. 

Other popular places of resort are the zoological gardens, near the 
wine market, with their wonderfully perfect menagerie, which are on the 
direct route from the Place de Bastile on the other side of the river, and 
the park of Vincennes, east of the city. This is in line with the greatest 
attractions of the city, and is not an ignoble conclusion of the pleasure 
seeking. Besides its historic and military attractions it contains a race 
course, a large artificial lake and numerous other means of recreation. 

For miles along the Seine on either side the quays are paved and 
beautified, and afford noble promenades. Even the sewers of Paris have 
within the last thirty years been transformed into things of wonder, not 
to say magnificence, as the mains generally follow the chief thoroughfares 
of the city and the connections correspond to the minor streets. 

THEATRES AND DELICATE ECONOMY. 

We already know where the theatres of Paris are. The Theatre 
Francaise leads all the rest, not only in the magnificence of its appoint- 
ments but the brilliancy of its companies. Moliere, or the company 
which he directed, founded it two centuries ago. The Opera House 
stands close behind it, the two being under the direct patronage of the 
government; other places of amusement are also assisted from the 
national treasury, the government, on its part, levying a generous tax 
upon all the receipts for the benefit of the public charities. So that if 
Paris is gay and spends her millions in amusing herself, her gayety 
becomes a continual blessing to the poor, which can be said of few great 
cities. 

Another peculiarity has been noticed of the Parisian. Although 
he is fond of good clothes and dies upon "all work and no play," he has 



I08 THE world's fair. 

Studied the science of economy in every phase. There is perhaps no 
one in the world who looks better and appears to live better on a smaller 
sum than the Parisian. Nothing goes to waste, and yet though he may 
have to count the cost of every cent there is little of that heart-rending 
" pinching " to be observed among the proud poor which is leen in other 
cities. Just so many vegetables served up in their dainty dishes, nicely 
seasoned and cooked, so much meat and so much wine. A great deal 
of chatting and laughter makes the meals go further and accomplishes 
more than if rushed down with the rapacity of the Englishman or the 
speed of the American. As proficients in the art of practicing a delicate 
economy the French, and the Parisian in particular, are unapproachable. 
The assertion has been made by some that the French are not hearty 
enough to fight the battle of civilization against Englishmen, Germans, 
Russians and Americans, but the monuments of greatness which they 
have reared in Paris alone would seem to indicate that so far they have 
possessed considerable stamina. 

It may be that their lightness of spirit and the peculiar faculty they 
have of making everything so appetizing, turn the smaller quantities of 
food which they consume into more than the average amount of blood 
and brain. The Parisian bread carrier is ofttimes enough to make one 
long for one of her tremendous loaves — not an uncouth, dirty man, 
with black hands, is the bread carrier, but a dainty girl in a frilled cap, a 
neat bodice and a pretty, clean apron, the latter being filled with the 
fresh loaves, which are also loaded into a basket strapped to her shoul- 
ders, like so many sticks of cordwood. 

Next in demand to the bread carriers are the wine merchants. 
They are of all grades, although since the Bastile is gone, St. Antoine 
is no more, and the other squalid and criminal quarters have been cut 
up into great streets and squares, and connected with aristocratic Paris, 
there are few Defarges such as Dickens described in his Tale of Two 
Cities. The trade is getting into more respectable hands ; the Defarges 
are growing less in number, while the mirrored restaurants and cafes on 
the streets off from the central boulevards of Paris, and frequented by 
the fashionables, artists, scientists, students and business men of the 
city, are becoming more and more the mainstays of the wine merchants. 
The great center of the wine trade is the market, which we have already 
noticed and in which 500,000 casks of wine can be stowed. . It is one 
of the most bustling places in all this bustling city. 

Across the river, perhaps half a mile from it, forming a triangle with 
the Hotel de Ville and the Tuileries as the base, is the Central Market. 
It covers twenty acres of ground and consists of a dozen immense pavil- 



SUPPLE AND MUSCULAR PEOPLE. IO9 

ions, connected by covered streets. Underneath the pavilions are great 
tanks for live fish and cool vaults for the storage of vegetables and fruits. 
Underground railways connect them with railroad termini, so that the 
produce can be conveniently delivered and the garbage removed. 

The business man of Paris is usually circulating somewhere in the 
vicinity of the Bourse or the Bank of France. Here are found the other 
financial institutions and the railway offices of the great trunk lines; the 
headquarters of national financiers, the bondholders, the capitalists, the 
schemers, where such enterprises as the Suez and the Panama Canals are 
launched upon the money market of France and the world. The Bank 
of France has branches in all the departments of the republic and in 
Algiers, and from it issue all the government notes. 

The Bourse and Chamber or Tribunal of Commerce are also so 
closely connected with the government that they are considered national 
institutions. Members of the latter body are elected by the chief mer- 
chants of the city or town who are named by the mayor or perfect. 
There is a chamber of commerce in every city and considerable town in 
France, which is consulted by the government on all matters of public 
interest, such as taxation and the improvement of land and water ways. 
When not volunteered such advice can be demanded, so that a member 
of the Tribunal of Commerce becomes, in a certain sense, an integral part 
of the government, bound to further its aims toward public prosperity. 

SUPPLE AND MUSCULAR PEOPLE. 

The predominating trait of the French is suppleness — which never 
excludes strength. The Italian and Celtic elements predominate in their 
character, their language being the most important of the Romanic 
tongues. The Celtic elements were lost, however, in the flood of 
Prankish words which poured from the north and those of Latin origin 
which came from the south. It is the unison of the Teutonic muscul- 
arity with the Italian suppleness which has made French people and the 
French language what they are. The rise of the troubadours, who sung 
their songs of chivalry in the southern, or Provencal dialect, had much 
effect in moulding the tongue into graceful lines. The crusades introduced 
some Arabic terms and when Frenchmen began to cultivate the natural 
sciences Greek and Latin terms crept in. But it was not until the mid- 
dle ages that the Franco-Romanic dialect of the north and the Provencal 
tongue were welded into one harmonious language, which has no super- 
ior as a medium for communicating the most diverse of ideas and cover- 
ing the greatest range of sentiment. In the province of light literature 



no THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

French writers are unrivalled ; and yet Calvin is not the only divine of 
France who has illustrated the weight of his native language as a judg- 
ment trumpet and inspirer of awe. Balzac and Descartes show the 
French as careful and profound philosophers, Voltaire and Rousseau as 
versatile geniuses capable, with their supple language, of touching every 
phase of human life except that in which reverence is crowned as king. 
Montesquieu was broad, masculine and keen. After placing the Dumas, 
Hugos, Sues, Vernes, Corneilles, Racines and Molieres in a group, 
imagine opposite them Lamartine, Guizot, Thiers and Taine, as histor- 
ians, Comte, the Positive philosopher, Cuvier, Laplace, Lagrange, 
Bastiat, DeTocqueville and a host of others, eminent in scientific and 
social questions ; and then answer the question whether the French are 
not intellectually muscular as well as versatile. 

One of the most conclusive evidences of their healthful elasticity as 
a nation is the wonderful vigor with which they rebounded from the 
crushing defeat of the Franco-Prussian war; not only evincing no 
depression of spirits but, while repairing their losses at home, lifting a 
great debt from their shoulders and continuing to increase in national 
wealth in a ratio which excited the admiration of the world. 





THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 

ifOMMENCING with Herodotus, down a long line of ancient 
historians, modern English writers have industriously collected 
the evidence which goes to prove that the Kimmerians, or Kelts, 
from whom the ancient Britons were descended, about the sev- 
enteenth century before Christ, were driven out of Asia into 
Europe by vast hordes of Scythians, from whom in turn have 
been traced the Goths, the Germans and the ancient Saxons. 
The Kelts, once in Europe, dashed again and again against 
Greece and Rome. Shadowy records of these mighty conflicts 
are found in the ancient "traditions of Wales and in the songs 
of her bards which have come down to us. In Csesar's time they had 
almost ceased to exist on the continent, but had crossed from France 
into England and had obtained much power. Their old enemies, the 
Scythians, or (as they became generally known in Europe) the Goths, 
came pouring after them, and followed in their footsteps of warring 
against Rome, 

BASIS OF THE ENGLISHMAN. 

One of the tribes farthest removed from the scene of bloodshed 
were the Saxons. They dwelt on the sea coast from the mouths of the 
Rhine to the Baltic Sea, and soon became a terror to all the maritime 
tribes and colonies. The Saxons were at the head of a confederation 
which was finally formed for protection against Rome, and the brave 
Jutes and Angles were their neighbors. The Jutes were those who were 
first called to England by the Britons to drive back the wild tribes who 
were threatening them from the north. One race of Kelts, the Highland 
Scotchmen, were about to pour down upon the southern tribes, the 
Britons , and now came over a tribe of their ancient enemies, the 
descendants of those Scythians who had driven them out of Asia, to save 
Kelt from Kelt. Thus prodigious are the cycles of history. 

Angles and Saxons followed, and Danes also. These are the tribes 
which are the foundation of the great island kingdom. Every school- 
boy knows it. But what manner of people were these who came to the 



112 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

island, partly by invitation and partly by invasion? Taine, the English 
historian, thus tells us: "As you coast the North Sea from the Scheldt 
to Jutland, you will mark in the first place that the characteristic feature 
is the want of slope, marsh, waste, shoal ; the rivers hardly drag them- 
selves along, swollen and sluofp-ish, with longf black-lookingr waves; the 
flooding stream oozes over the banks and appears further on in stagnant 
pools. In Holland the soil is but a sediment of mud; here and there 
only does the earth cover it with a crust, shallow and brittle, the mere 
alluvium of the river, which the river seems ever about to destroy. Thick 
clouds hover above, being fed by ceaseless exhalations. They lazily turn 
their violet flanks, grow black, suddenly descend in heavy showers ; the 
vapor, like a furnace smoke, crawls forever on the horizon. Thus 
watered, plants multiply ; in the angle between Jutland and the Conti- 
nent, in a fat, muddy soil, the verdure is as fresh as that of England. 
Immense forests covered the land even after the eleventh century. The 
sap of this humid country, thick and potent, circulates in man as in the 
plants. Man's respiration, nutrition, sensation and habits affect also his 
faculties and his frame, 

" Over the sea, flat on his face, lies the monstrous, terrible north 
wind, sighing and sinking his voice as in secret, like an old grumbler. 
Rain, wind and surge leave room for naught but gloomy and melancholy 
thoughts. The very joy of the billows has in it an inexplicable restless- 
ness and harshness. From Holland to Jutland, a string of small, deluged 
islands bears witness to their ravages. In winter a breastplate of ice 
covers the streams ; the sea drives back the frozen masses as they de- 
scend ; they pile themselves with a crash upon the sand banks and sway 
to and fro ; now and then you may see a vessel, seized as in a vise, split 
in two beneath their violence. Picture in this foggy clime, amid hoar- 
frost and storm, in these marshes and forests, half naked savages, a kind 
of wild beasts, fishers and hunters, but especially hunters of men ; these 
are they, Saxons, Angles, Jutes, Frisians ; later on, Danes, who during 
the fifth and ninth centuries, with their swords and battle-axes took and 
kept the island of Britain. A rude and foggy land like their own, except 
in the depth of its sea and the safety of its coasts, which one day will 
call up real fleets and mighty vessels; green England — the word rises to 
the lips and expresses all." 

When the Norman brought his softer ways to Great Britain he 
found the Anglo-Saxon "a magnificent animal," broad-shouldered, deep- 
chested, a tremendous eater; hardy, independent, even stubborn; a 
native with a splendid physique and a hard head ; a lover of his snug 
kingdom and his adopted home. The Anglo-Saxon was broadened in 



THE LESS RULING THE GREATER. II3 

his ideas by the new comer, without being aHenated from his country. 
He commenced to look beyond Great Britain, and the spirit of adventure 
and conquest which he had as an Angle, as a Saxon and as a Dane, 
took possession of him and has never left him. A healthy brain in a 
healthy body has pushed his name and power around the globe. 

THE LESS RULING THE GREATER. 

Great Britain presents one of the most remarkable instances of 
intellectual achievement, in the matter of conquest, which the world has 
ever known. The Russian Empire is great, but the Russians are in the 
. majority, at least three to one. The Empire of Great Britain is greater 
in square miles, its population is nearly three times as great, and yet the 
people of the dependencies outnumber the inhabitants of the parent 
country at least in the ratio of five to one. 

Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America have seen the fleets- 
of England, and been colonized or conquered by people from her shores. 
The Englishman is the universal traveler, and there is not a desert in 
Africa or a forest in Australia, or a field of ice in the Arctics, where man 
has gone, that his feet have not trod ; and in this connection we mean 
not only the Englishman of Great Britain, but thart other great repre- 
sentative of the race, the American of the United States. The telegraph 
and the railroad have done for Great Britain what could not otherwise 
have been accomplished if every Englishman had been a walking arsenal. 
Submarine cables and trans-continental telegraphs and railroads not only 
bind her distant dominions to herself, but make each a unit in itself, 

EXPLORING THE THAMES. 

Englishmen are the greatest though not the most unbiased travelers 
in the world. They will penetrate Africa and Australia, but one of their 
number makes the confession that few have ever attempted to explore 
the Thames to its source. Those who have are almost as much in doubt 
whether they have found it as the African explorers were regarding the 
source of the Nile. Two streams rise in the Cotswold Hills, in Glou- 
cester, and the one which has been called the Thames runs more in the 
general direction of the river, but its source is not as distant from the 
mouth as the rivulet which is called the Churn. But they forget their 
differences, like sensible streams, and join for the good of the common 
river. A few miles further on two other tributaries are received and 
the Severn's waters also flow into the Thames through a wonderful 
little canal which pierces the Cotswold Hills by means of a tunnel. The 



114 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

river here commences to earn its title of the Broad Water, running 
through a pleasant, hilly country, with the dignity of a young man who 
has cast his first vote. Its course is toward Oxford by way of the village 
of Shifford, where King Alfred once held his parliament. Near by is a 
substantial bridge thrown across the Thames six hundred years ago. It 
is named the New Bridge and is the oldest one on the river. Numerous 
locks and weirs, with a tow path on either side, show the former impor- 
tance of the river as a navigable stream, but the line of smoke and steam 
which is frequently drawn across the neighboring landscape and the 
triumphant whiz of a train of cars are sufficient explanations of the almost 
deserted appearance of the river. 

It is peculiarly appropriate to approach the calm, stately and vener- 
able Oxford, by way of the slowly-moving Thames. The spires of its 
•churches and the great university buildings give the impression, from a 
■distance, that one is approaching a large city. But the university is all. 
The streets are narrow and crooked, but the noble colleges and churches 
which go to make up the university, and the quaint old houses form a 
striking scene. The distracting hum of machinery and the vexatious 
smoke of manufactories do not disturb its serenity ; but against the 
coming of the railroad, and its necessary stir, the authorities of the 
university could not plant their English feet and set their square English 
chins firmly enough. 

OXFORD. 

Before there was any England there was an Oxford. When the 
kings of the Heptarchy were fighting like crows, the university of Oxford 
was a collection of monasteries, religious and secular schools. The teach- 
ers formed an association that might settle questions of general interest, 
and the university was conceived. Alfred the Great liked to reside in 
Oxford and visit her schools, and by the ninth century the Church itself 
recognized it as a seat of learning. Bloody Queen Mary acknowledged 
its importance, also, in the persecutions which she waged against the 
Protestant lights of both Cambridge and Oxford universities. Cranmer, 
Ridley and Latimer, all fellows of Cambridge University and high in 
favor with Henry VIII., were brought to trial. by the Catholic Queen 
and burned, opposite Baliol College. As long as the Church of England 
stands, to say the least, the message of brave old Latimer, Bishop of 
Worcester, will be quoted to posterity. Turning to Ridley, his fellow 
martyr, he exclaimed in homely style : " Be of good comfort, Master 
Ridley, and play the man , we shall this day light such a candle, by God's 
grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." Master Ridley, 



FROM OXFORD TO WINDSOR. II5 

the Bishop of Rochester, was as brave as he, and Archbishop Cranmer 
of Canterbury died a penitent that his mortal fears had swerved him 
from the faith he professed. The Martyrs' Memorial, which marks the 
place of execution, is a monument both to personal bravery and the 
Church of England. 

Of the twenty colleges which compose the university of Oxford, Ba- 
liol is the most democratic, refusing to admit anyone who claims any 
privilege on account of rank or wealth. Christ Church is the most mag- 
nificent and supports the greatest number of students; it is a cathedral 
as well as a college, and was founded by Henry VIII. The oldest insti- 
tution is University College, founded in the thirteenth century upon a 
school which is said to have been established by Alfred the Great. 

The governing bodies of the University are the House of Congre- 
gation, consisting of heads of colleges and halls, masters of schools, 
professors, deans, etc., etc., which grants the ordinary degrees ; the 
House of Convocation, composed of regents, which confers honorary 
degrees and fills the university offices ; the Congregation of the Univer- 
sity, including the chancellor, heads of colleges and halls, the canons of 
Christ Church College, a portion of the members of the Convocation, 
etc., etc., which body acts as a sort of Upper House to discuss and 
amend the statutes proposed by the Hebdomadal Council ; the Heb- 
domadal Council has as its members the chancellor, vice-chancellor, 
proctors, and a certain number elected from the heads of colleges and 
halls and from the House of Convocation. The chancellor, who is the 
head of the corporate body of the University, is elected for life by the 
House of Convocation, the honor being conferred upon noblemen. All 
matters of legislation originate in the Hebdomadal Council, pass to the 
Congregation of the University, and are adopted or rejected by the 
House of Convocation. 

FROM OXFORD TO WINDSOR. 

Between the counties of Oxford and Berks the river makes a bend 
and at the southern point of the loop meets the Cherwell, a stream 
from the west. In controlling the course of the Thames this was con- 
sidered quite a strategic point by the old warriors of England, and con- 
sequently they erected earthworks at this point which are still visible. 
This is the neighborhood, also, of Roman camps, the head-waters of the 
river flowing from the region of quite a system of Roman roads ; but 
south of Oxford the spots of history commence to touch more closely 
the modern times. Among the most interesting localities is Chalgrove 



ii6 THE world's fair. 

Field, where Hampden was slain. Soon, however, the beauties of the 
landscape draw one's mind from brave men and their brave ends. The 
little islands covered with trees or reeds, the wooded or grassy banks, 
with picturesque cottages and inns creeping down to the very edge of 
the sunny waters ; the mill-dams over which the bright waters foam, the 
horses and plowmen in the fields, and the absorbed angler on the shore, 
make the English landscape the restful and yet animating influence 
which it is. 

It was in this school that many of the English poets were educated, 
and even so bad-humored a wit and man as Pope could not resist the 
temptation to retire to the lovely banks of the Upper Thames, hide 
himself in a mellow old castle, forget his deformities and write transla- 
tions and pretty verses. Before your boat reaches Reading you will 
also pass a pleasant village to which Warren Hastings retired while 
Burke was thundering at him for his doings in the East. At Reading 
the Kennet flows in from the south, and upon its banks the courtly, 
scholarly and earnest Falkland fell in battle, fighting for hie King 
against the people. His home was a few miles from Oxford and he 
died not far from it. 

The waters above Reading in the estimation of Young England are 
as historical as any in the world, for here were rowed many of those 
famous university matches, the results of which are flashed over the 
Western world. It is unaccountable how those university students for 
so many years could have shot by the beauties lying along Henley 
Reach, looking only straight ahead to the stake boat. Above the old 
university course for a dozen miles the scenery is even more lovely, the 
chalky cliffs bearing upon their seamed sides thick groves of beech trees, 
the swelling hills clothed in rich verdure meeting them half way ; or 
from the low banks of either shore great trees, tangled shrubbery and 
matted reeds all bend gracefully forward in continual salutation. 

FROM WINDSOR TO LONDON. 

As the cliffs and hills and cool shadows of this charmed stretch of the 
Thames are left behind, the towers of Windsor Castle appear over the 
trees. The castle, forest and grounds form one of the most magnificent 
royal domains in the world. The buildings, which cover twelve acres, 
overlook the Thames, and from the tower twelve counties pass under the 
eye. The great park is nearly three square miles in area and the forest 
west of it is fifty-six miles in circuit. The Saxon kings loved the beauties 
of this locality. William the Conqueror built the castle, which has been 
repeatedly enlarged and several times almost rebuilt. King John dwelt at 



FROM WINDSOR TO LONDON. I I ^ 

Windsor while the barons were preparing Magna Charta at Runnymede, 
and James of Scotland was a prisoner here. In the vaults of St. George's 
chapel lie the bodies of kings, queens and dukes. Prince Albert is 
buried in the beautiful park of Windsor where Queen Victoria passed 
many hours with him during their wedded life. 

On the other side of the river, standing somewhat back from its 
borders, is Eton College, a substantial-looking building which from a 
distance resembles a combined fortress, monastery and church. It was 
founded by Henry VI. four centuries and a half ago, who established 
King's College, Cambridge, at the same time. The royal plan of making 
Eton a preparatory school to King's has been followed to this day and 
provision is also made at Oxford for two of the graduates who are not 
elected for admission to Cambridge. 

A little nearer London and the Council Meadow, Runnymede is 
reached. Opposite is Magna Charta Island, where King John signed the 
instrument which was the basis of the English constitution. The barons 
and their followers camped upon the meadow within plain sight of the 
King, and a delegation carried the paper for him to sign. King John 
was aware that this meant sign or resign, and when the charter was laid 
upon a stone for his action he did not long hesitate. A rock, which is 
said to be the historic one, is preserved in the little cottage to which many 
curiosity seekers repair. 

A bend in the river between Middlesex and Surrey, as one descends 
the stream toward Kingston, is called Coway Stakes. On arriving at 
the south bank, Julius Caesar found that the Britons were drawn up on 
the opposite shore, which they had fortified by a palisade of sharpened 
stakes. There was a similar fortification in the bed of the river. But 
Csesar's legions dashed into the water, which was up to their necks, and 
surmounting all obstacles, put the enemy to flight. The Roman was 
invading the territory of the British general, Cassivelaunus, and this 
was the only point where the Thames could be crossed on foot. Past 
the house in which Garrick once resided, the palace and gardens of 
Hampton Court, past villas and villages, the river sweeps which was 
never destined to be the pride of a Southern race ; past Kingston, 
where the Saxon monarchs were crowned, the Thames washes the 
estate which Pope adorned with temple and grotto and made so 
famous that kings, statesmen and noble ladies sought him there. The 
villa is gone. A few fragments of the grotto remain. The sensitive, 
diseased poet and wit is gone, and the mother whom he cherished as 
the only one on earth he could love without reserve. The Thames 
flows by them all, and the church at Twickenham, which contains 



Il8 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

his tomb; may cast a shadow over its margin. The inscription on 
his monument proclaims that he "would not be buried in We,stminster 
Abbey." 

At this point the Thames brings us near the suburban parks of 
London and the outlying villages. Having left the gracious parks around 
the pretty suburbs of Richmond and Brentford, the distant stir of the 
mighty city is almost felt in the air. 

LONDON AND "LONDON CITY." 

By entering London from the west the mighty metropolis is 
approached from its most favorable direction ; few Londoners would 
agree, however, as to the limits of their city, for the pcstoffice, the par- 
liamentary, the police and the Metropolitan Board of Works districts 
are all different. London City, officially, lies partly within the limits of 
the old Roman walls, which have disappeared. Gates were subsequently 
added to the walls, and, for many years, Temple Bar was regarded as 
the site of the ancient town's western gate, being the official boundary 
between the fashionable and magnificent West End and the city. This 
supposition has been dispelled, but the boundary remains. Memories of 
the old times are kept green by retaining such names as Newgate for 
the oldest London prison, and London Wall for a street in the northern 
part of the city. From the east the walls commenced at the Tower of 
London, which has the credit, with some, of being built by Julius Caesar, 
and they were afterwards extended along the Thames, the western point 
being Ludgate, which has long since disappeared, but Ludgate Hill 
still stands. There were seven gates when the wall was carried around 
the northern districts of the city, as is supposed, by Constantine the 
Great. 

London City is governed by the Lord Mayor and the Corporation, 
its extreme eastern and western limits being the Tower and the City of 
Westmmster, with the River Thames as its southern base. Its area is 
less than a square mile, of which 370 acres are "within the walls." 
Within this area the metropolitan police and commissioners of public 
works have no control, the city sustaining its own departments and being 
accountable to Parliament. This independent corporation, the wealthiest 
in the world, has authority for its existence in charters which were 
granted by William the Conqueror after the battle of Hastings and by 
Henry I. in iioo. The chief magistrate received the official title of Lord 
Mayor in 1 191. 

But when the registrar obtains his figures for the population ot 



THE FASHIONABLE WEST END. II9 

London he does not rest satisfied with the city and its 80,000 people, 
but, as stated, includes the territory subject to the Board of Works. 
This comprises the city of Westminster and Southwark, a borough south 
of the River Thames ; the Tower Hamlets and Greenwich, to the east; 
and a dozen northern and western suburbs, among which may be men- 
tioned Marylebone, Kensington and Chelsea. There are many popu- 
lous parishes in the center of London but west of the City. This is the 
London which contains 4,500,000 people and is the largest and most 
opulent city in the world. 

THE FASHIONABLE WEST END. 

In the West End are the fine squares and club-houses for which 
London is noted, and here also is the brilliant Piccadilly street in which 
so much of the wealth and fashion of England is congregated. Regent 
street, the handsomest perhaps in London, where the ladies shop and 
which promenaders of both sexes greatly frequent, crosses Piccadilly. 
Belgravia, the southern portion of the West End, is a mass of great 
squares, in which grow beautiful trees, and which are surrounded by 
mansions of nobles and merchant princes. The northern division of the 
West End is known as Tyburnia, professional men, artists, and the less 
wealthy class of merchants having their residences here. 

The outer districts of the West End are beautified, also, by the 
grandest of London's royal parks, and in pleasant weather Regent's and 
Hyde Parks, and Kensington Gardens, with their museums, palaces, 
lakes and wide drives, collect more high breeding, princely men and 
women, gorgeous and elegant equipages and costumes than can be 
shown elsewhere in the world within a like space. On the site of the 
Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park, is the splendid memorial to Prince 
Albert. He is represented as seated under a canopy, the richly-carved 
and minaret-like roof terminating in a cross. The main exposures of 
the monument present a multitude of marble portraits of illustrious 
Englishmen, while at the four corners of the inclosure Europe, Asia, 
Africa and America are symbolized in stone. The Albert Hall is oppo- 
site the Memorial, and the Kensington Museum buildings near by. In 
Regent's Park are the large botanical and zoological gardens. East of 
Kensington Palace, one of the Queen's town residences and where she 
was born, are the unrivalled gardens. A bridge over a charming arti- 
ficial body of water, called the Serpentine, connects Kensington Gardens 
with those other royal grounds, Hyde Park. East of Hyde Park is 
Green Park, entered beneath a triumphal arch surmounted by an eques- 



I20 THE world's FAIR. 

trian statue of Wellington. Upon the road connecting Hyde Park with 
St. James Park is Buckingham Palace, with a magnificent ball-room and 
throne-room, but an architectural eye-sore to most of the English mon- 
archs. The Queen seldom visits it. The royal receptions are usually 
held in St. James Palace, fronting the park by that name. The palace 
is at the end of Pall Mall, in which club-house thoroughfare is Marlbor- 
ough House, the residence of the Prince of Wales. 

THE CITY. 



Trafalgar Square, within easy walking distance of Charing Cross 
(the official headquarters of the cab service) the Houses of Parliament, 

art galleries, club 
rooms, etc., besides the 
imposing statue to Nel- 
son and other works of 
art, is a favorite resort 
for pleasure seekers, 
politicians and mer- 
chants passing back 
and forth between the 
West End and the 
City. The Houses of 
Parliament consist of 
a vast structure lying 
between the Thames 
and Westminster 
Abbey and having a 
river front of 900 feet. 
Its central spire and 
its belfry are each 300 
feet in height. West- 
minster hall, over 100 
feet in height, with an 
area in proportion, occupies the hall of the old royal palace where some of 
the first parliaments were held. The House of Lords is finely propor- 
tioned and gorgeously finished, containing the Queen's throne, the Prince's 
chair, the Lord Chancellor's wool-sack (a chair cushioned with wool), and 
statues of the barons who brought the charter to King John at Runny- 
mede and compelled him to sign it. If the Queen is to arrive, two 
hours before her coming the cellars underneath the House are carefully 




NOTED PICTURE OF LOT'S WIFE. 



■examined in fear of another gunpowder plot. The House of Commons 
is comparatively plain. Of the other vast government buildings, Somer- 
set House is perhaps the most noticeable, it being a quadrangular struct- 
ure with a river frontage of 600 feet. 

Soon after leaving Parliament street Westminster Abbey comes 
into view, with its square towers and majestic stretch of buttresses and 




PIECE OF STATUARY. 

pinnacles. Here the monarchs of England were crowned for centuries, 
and many of them buried. Clustered around the east end of the Abbey 
are several chapels, those of Henry VH. and Edward the Confessor 
being the most noticeable. Edward was the- first monarch crowned in 
Westminster, and his shrine appears in the middle of his chapel. Queen 
Elizabeth and Mary Stuart have their monuments in Henry's chapel, 



122 THE world's FAIR. 

while within calling distance are the mortal parts of those souls whorr. 
England delights to honor. 

St. Paul's Cathedral stands upon the highest ground in the city, on 
Ludgate Hill. The old church was burned in the great London fire, 
the present cathedral being built in 1675-1710 by Sir Christopher Wren^ 
one of the world's great architects. It would not, in fact, be honoring 
him too much to call him the builder of modern London, for no one 
else accomplished so much to restore it after the disastrous conflagra- 
tion of 1666 ; not only was he the architect of St. Paul's, where he is 
buried, but of fifty other churches, of the Royal Exchange, the Custom 
House, the monument near the foot of London bridge commemorative 
of the fire, the Greenwich Observatory, and hospitals, colleges and pal- 
aces, which make a list fit for a directory. St. Paul's is built after St. 
Peter's, and besides being a monument to genius itself, contains memorials 
of Nelson, Dr. Johnson, Wellington, Napier and John Howard, and the 
tombs of such illustrious persons as the artists Turner and Reynolds. 

At the foot of Ludgate Hill is Fleet street, which is the Newspaper 
Row of London, and the London Times, with its foundries and tele- 
graph system, its army of employes and military precision, is printed 
not far away in Water lane. The western bounds of the Hill are at 
Temple Bar, and beyond is Lincoln's Inn Fields, a great square and 
resort for the legal profession. 

The British Museum dates from the latter part of the eighteenth 
century and the great solid building, with its columned porticoes, from 
the commencement of the nineteenth. The noble dome, which covers the 
reading room of the library is larger than St. Peter's and only a few feet 
smaller than the Pantheon. Among the other features of the library 
which have made it almost unrivalled — the national library at Paris being 
its competitor — are the collection of manuscripts and the department of 
Hebrew literature. Of greatest value in the department of antiquities 
of the Museum are, perhaps, the Egyptian and Assyrian collections. 
The collection of natural history is remarkably complete, having an only 
rival in that of the Museum of Paris, which institution, as a whole, is the 
only one in the world which compares with the British Museum. 

The centers of the city's vast political, commercial and financial 
activity are around the Bank of England, Threadneedle street, the 
Royal Exchange, the Mansion House and the Custom House. Thames, 
Cornhill, Cheapside, Fenchurch, Leadenhall and Victoria streets are 
solidly packed with pedestrians and vehicles for nine hours of the day. 
The Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor, is connected 
with Blackfriars Bridge by Victoria street. Perhaps the most continu- 



THE CITY. 



123. 







ous, the densest traffic, is between the Bank of England and the Man-- 
sion House. It is said to average 60,000 persons in a day of nine 
hours. A street from Cheapside, in the heart of the city, leads to the 
Guildhall, where many of the societies of tradesmen meet. They are 
the organized voters of London, and as such 3re intirnatpiv connected 

with the Corporation. The organiza- _ 

tion of some of the guilds dates back 
a thousand years, many of them be- 
ing very wealthy and owning beauti- 
ful halls, where they give lavish en- 
tertainments. The Guildhall is used 
by those who have not their own 
place of assembly, and is the cen- 
ter of as much political life as 
the Mansion House of the Lord 
Mayor. 

The traffic over the bridges of 
the Thames, particularly over Lon- 
don Bridge, is tremendous. The 
river is tunneled, but the pressure of 
travel is so great that it is hardly 
relieved. The south side of the 
Thames is bordered by a magnifi- 
cent , embankment called the Al- 
bert; across the river is the Vic- 
toria. The Albert embankment is 
lined with stately residences and 
other buildings, but terminates 
among the manufactories of Lam- 
beth. 

The great streets of London 
generally follow the Thames, and 
the embankments, of comparatively 
recent construction, are broad 
quays along the river banks sim- 
ilar to those of Paris. The Vic- 
toria embankment runs from Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge, 
with Waterloo between. The latter is over 1,200 feet in length, 
one of the finest structures of the kind in existence, and was 
opened to the public upon the second anniversary of the battle 
of Waterloo. 





124 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



LONDON TOWER AND THE DOCKS. 

One of the most interesting of the many excursions which may be 
taken from London City in all directions, is that which terminates at the 

London and India 
docks by way of 
Tower Hill. The 
Tower Hamlets, 
east of London, and 
other suburbs in 
the vicinity, are to 
the poorer classes 
what the West End 
is to the aristoc- 
racy; the two ex- 
tremes of London 
life may be studied 
in the two ex- 
tremes of London. 
Within sight 
of much of the pov- 
erty of London are 
the forests of masts 
and the huge bod- 
ies of steamers, 
representing her 
ceaseless trade 
with every quarter 
of the globe. Be- 
t w e e n the great 
bridges are a score 
of steamboat piers 
for the accommo- 
dation of river pas- 
sengers. Just be- 
low London Bridge 
is the Pool where 
the coal ships or 
ST. AXDRKW's CHURCH, iioLBORN. colHers most con- 

gregate. Between the Pool and Blackwell is the Port of London, 
occupied by ships of greater burden, and for the convenience of these 




LONDON TOWER AND THE DOCKS. 1 25 

giants have been constructed extensive docks and massive warehouses. 
Extensions are constantly progressing and tunnels being built to connect 
the docks on the northern bank of the Thames with those on the south- 
ern, so that eventually they will form one vast system. Below the Tower 
are St. Katharine's docks, and also on the northern shore, the London 
docks, with their extensive wine vaults, the Limestone docks, the West 
India docks, the East India docks, and the Victoria docks; on the 
southern shore the grand Surrey and Commercial docks are devoted to 
the timber and corn trades. The East India docks are at Blackwell, and 
as the shores are flat on either side of the river the greatest of English 
merchant ships which lie there appear more gigantic than they are. 

London Tower overlooks the most cosmopolitan, if not the busiest 
section of the River Thames. This historical fortress and prison is an 
inharmonious mass of towers, forts, ramparts, batteries, barracks, armories 
and other structures, covering an area of nearly 900 feet square. North- 
west of the Tower is the hill upon which the scaffold stood. Each of the 
towers included in the Tower has its particular recollections. Lady Jane 
Grey, Raleigh, Sidney, Russell, the young sons of Edward IV., and 
other ghosts, haunt them. One tower was built by William the Con- 
queror, and on one side of it is a large structure occupied as barracks, 
and erected by the Duke of Wellington, who was once Constable of the 
Tower. 

Of late years the authorities have made strenuous efforts to provide 
parks, or " lungs," for the working people of the east and northeast of 
London. Victoria Park, 300 acres in extent, is one of the greatest of 
these blessings. 

We have hardly touched upon the attractions of London. If one 
should say but a dozen words about each of the 2,000 churches he would 
have written a chapter. He would commence by saying: Opposite St. 
Bartholomew's, bloody Queen Mary burned her victims at the stake ; in St. 
Saviour's, Southwark, are buried Gower, Beaumont, Fletcher and Mas- 
singer ; Temple Church, near the Bar, contains the body of poor Oliver 
Goldsmith ; the Duke of Wellington attended the fashionable St. 
George's Church, Hanover Square ; Whitfield's Chapel is where he first 
preached to a large indoor congregation ; Spurgeon's Tabernacle, Christ's 
Church (Rev. Newman Hall), and the picturesque St. Andrew's, must be 
lightly passed ; the ancient St. Giles, Cripplegate, is where the majestic 
Milton is buried, etc., etc. 

This also would be the very unsatisfactory way in which one would 
be obliged to treat the great charities and benefactors, past and present; 
the hospitals for men, women and children, for the insane, the lame, the 



I 26 THE world's fair. 

■epileptic and confirmed invalids ; the universities, colleges, ragged 
schools and select schools, medical and surgical schools, libraries, 
museums, fine art galleries and underground railways. In one word, and 
finally, there is no civilization in any part of the world of which a trace 
can not be found in London. 

WHERE PETER WORKED. 

On the south side of the river, opposite the dock district, are 
Deptford, Greenwich and Woolwich. At Deptford was formerly the 
great royal ship-yard, in which Peter the Great worked at his trade. 
This is now removed to Chatham, thirty miles southeast of London. 
Adjoining the deserted yard at Deptford are the victualing establish- 
ments of the royal navy, consisting of cattle pens, slaughter houses, 
bakeries, a brewery, etc., etc., and which partially cover the former 
grounds of the mansion in which Peter resided while working for his 
•empire. 

WOOLWICH AND GREENWICH. 

Woolwich really lies on both sides of the River Thames, but the 
arsenal and grounds where the ordnance of the army and navy is proved 
are on the south side. Until twenty years ago the royal dock-yard was 
located here, where it had been established for three centuries. The 
foundries and magazines, with other buildings connected with the 
arsenal, cover over one hundred acres of ground, and the famous range 
where ordnance and new guns are tried is three miles in length. Con- 
veniently situated to get the advantage of every experiment and a 
thorough, practical education is the military academy for artillery 
officers and engineers. At North Woolwich are turned out hundreds of 
miles of telegraph cables. 

Greenwich is five miles from St. Paul's, and three from London 
ibridge. Since the seventeenth century the Greenwich observatory has 
been fixing the longitude for a great portion of the world. Greenwich 
time is also standard throughout England. It is a manufacturing town, 
having large yards for the building of iron steamboats , but Greenwich 
has another attraction besides its observatory, of which there is no pro- 
totype in Great Britain. The hospital for seamen is a large, quadrangu- 
lar building, containing libraries and a hall adorned with portraits of 
naval heroes and representations of naval victories, besides the regular 
offices and apartments. This institution supports thousands of British 
seamen, many of those who were formerly inmates, but not seriously 



CANTERBURY AND THOMAS A BECKET. 1 27 

incapacitated being now allowed a choice of residence. At present it con- 
tains a few hundred bed-ridden pensioners, but the bulk of the hospital is 
reserved for use in case of war. The site of the building was at one 
time occupied by the royal palace in which Queen Elizabeth, Queen 
Mary and Henry VIII. were born. 

Gravesend is the limit of the port of London. It has ship-yards and a 
church where Pocahontas is buried. Ships leaving port get their outfits, 
provisions and clothing at Gravesend, and the Custom House officers 
examine vessels when they are about to enter. 

Chatham, where the royal ship-yards are, is beyond Gravesend, 
toward the sea, and Canterbury is still east of Chatham. It is a good 
point from which to sweep the whole of England, south of the Thames. 

CANTERBURY AND THOMAS A BECKET. 

From the time of St. Augustine, who received Ethelbert and his 
whole kingdom of Kent into the Church, Canterbury has been the seat 
of the highest ecclesiastic of England. From the rising to the setting 
of a single sun, ten thousand Saxons were baptized in the river Stour, 
which flows through Canterbury. This was the first formal acknowledg- 
ment of the power of the Christian religion in Great Britain, and it was 
upon this occasion that the old Saxon priest smote the images of his 
gods to see if there was really any virtue in them. He had served them 
long, he said ; they had brought nothing but misery to him, and he was 
a willing convert to the new faith. Though the great cathedral at Can- 
terbury has suffered several times by fire, and has been beautified during 
the present century, it is in substantially the same condition as it was 
when completed in the twelfth century. Henry IV. and the Black Prince 
have monuments in the cathedral. The city contains other interesting 
memorials of the introduction of Christianity into England. The immense 
Augustinian monastery, so long used as a brewery, is now a missionary 
college, having been restored to something of its former appearance. 

It was before the high altar of the magnificent cathedral at Canter- 
bury, that Thomas a Becket, the Primate of England, was murdered 
because he pronounced the Church greater than the King ; for which deed 
King Henry II. did penance by allowing the monks to lay the lashes upon 
his own bare back, besides erecting several castles throughout the king- 
dom and doing other useless things. Now, beyond Dover, near the coast, 
is a little old town, with middle-century churches and, houses. Once it 
was an important sea-port and furnished the king with many a vessel for 
defense of England. There is now quite a tract of land between it and 



128 THE world's FAIR. 

the sea. Hythe was, furthermore, a smugglers' port, and one of their 
picturesque Hghthouses, with a blunt, square tower, rises innocently from 
the middle of the town, a legitimate store underneath, and an honest 
family of Kent for inmates. It was about a mile from this town that the 
Knights met who stabbed Thomas a Becket before the high altar of 
Canterbury. Saltwood Castle, where the conspirators agreed upon their 
villainy, was claimed as Church property by Thomas a Becket. Only a 
portion of the structure, looking from such a romantic situation 
upon the Channel and the coast of France, is left to tell of its 
former strength and magnificence. Its deep windows, groined roofs 
and rich carvings are built into a farm house, some of its large 
upper rooms being occupied by laborers. 

DOVER AND HASTINGS. 

The road from Chatham to Canterbury is delightful, and passes on 
to a pleasant little town, which once had a good harbor, and was, with 
Hythe, one of the powerful so called " Cinque Ports," or those lying 
opposite France which were accorded particular privileges in return for 
which they furnished whole fleets of ships to humble the people just 
across the way. Sandwich's harbor, however, commenced to fill up 
with sand and in an unlucky day a vessel sunk at its entrance and com- 
pleted the blockade. 

Dover is the next Cinque Port, going down the coast, and it still 
enjoys that distinction, it being only twenty miles from France and 
the most convenient port of landing from the continent. Both Normans 
and French have laid violent hands upon it, and Caesar would have 
landed his invaders there, but the shore was too abrupt, and he entered 
England from a point a little further west. The Saxons looked upon it 
as the, key to Kent and the Englishmen as the key to the kingdom. 
The Castle of Dover, posted upon a great chalk cliff guarding the town, 
contains a Roman watchtower, which is one of the most ancient pieces 
of military work in Great Britain, and exhibits also both Saxon and 
Norman styles of architecture. 

Upon the borders of what was then a fot-est, not far from Dover, 
another adventurer in arms landed from the French coast, nearly a 
thousand years from Caesar's time. The battle which gave England to 
the Normans, however, was not fought at Hastings, but six miles west 
of the port. Two years afterwards William the Conqueror founded 
Battle Abbey, which yet stands, a rugged stone structure with four 
central towers and two unequal wings. 



THE CHALKY CLIFFS AND OLD FORESTS. 1 29 

THE CHALKY CLIFFS AND OLD FORESTS. 

The physical pecuHarity of these extreme southeastern districts 
of the country is the chalky formation of the l^nd, which throws it into 
two pleasing series of undulations called the North and the South 
Downs, which extend to the coast, the former beyond Canterbury to 
North Foreland (the extremity of Southeastern England) and the latter 
to Beachy Head, the grandest of the southern chalk cliffs. The Downs 
inclose the Weald, a rough plain from which geologists have drawn val- 
uable specimens of sea monsters, amphibians and ferns. Ironstone was 
also found, and Briton^ Roman and Saxon are believed to have worked 
in it. In the middle ages iron manufacturing prospered in the Weald, 
or forest, and the Sussex iron works were called upon not only by 
neighboring hamlets and villas, but by London itself. Cinder Hill, 
Furnace Place, Hammer Ponds, with the forest gone and the manufac- 
tories transferred to such coal districts as Birmingham, tell of past 
industry and the cause of its decadence. A ridge runs through the 
center of the Weald, from which its fertile and flowery surface, roughly 
broken and with a fir tree left here and there, may be viewed as far as 
the Downs on either side. In a little town on the northern edge of the 
Weald, Richard Cobden, the free-trader, was born, and Sir Charles 
Lyell, the geologist, passed his early days there. Farther west is Leith 
Hill, the highest point of land in Southeastern England, from whose 
summit can be indistinctly traced a varied and charming landscape 200 
miles in extent. A ramble through the Surrey hills would be well 
repaid by the charming country residences which peep out so unexpect- 
edly from groves of beech and oak trees. Then there are cool dales, 
bright hills, and pleasant lanes and villages to enjoy. If a ridge or an 
elevation has such a queer name as the Hog's Back it must be walked, 
for such brands were placed there by the early Saxons, and their homely 
words are stamped upon many hills and vales of this region. 

EPSOM SALTS AND RACES. 

The Weald and Surrey hills also bring one within about twenty 
miles of London, and upon the northern edge of this varied landscape 
is a representative town of England — old and yet new; for although 
the Epsom salts were known two centuries ago, the race-course is less 
than half of that age. Epsom is on the edge of the North Downs and 
it is on the Downs themselves that the great race-course is located. The 
races for the Derby stakes are the most exciting which take place in 
England. Epsom seemed once destined to become a famous health 
9 



130 THE world's fair. 

resort, the salts which were obtained from evaporating the waters of her 
mineral springs becoming so famous that the name Epsom salt is now 
applied to a like mineral obtained from the sea, from quarries in France, 
the Mammoth Cave in "this country, and many other localities. But 
the races overshadowed the salts and during the week succeeding 
Whitsuntide a hundred thousand people pour out of London and gather 
from the surrounding country to see the famous English runners. 

THE FOREST OF DEATH. 

Just beyond the South Downs is the New Forest, in whose dense 
shades a few timid deer still wander, and wild ponies and swine find their 
homes there. It is the largest and most picturesque tract of wooded 
land in England, the noblest vantage ground being a knoll upon which 
is a country house marking the site of the keep from which the Red King 
went forth to hunt for the last time ; from this point cool avenues stretch 
over vast reaches of the forest, and open to view the refreshing waters 
of the Channel and the distant Isle of Wight. The spot where Rufus 
was found pierced with arrows is marked by a stone appropriately 
inscribed and protected by an iron casing. Beeches and oak predomi- 
nate among the monarchs of the forest, and in the oldest portion of it 
two of the " twelve apostles" — gigantic trees — still stand. In the very 
center of this primeval scene is a little town, from which many excursions 
are made. Groves whose gnarled sentries and massive groups make 
one dream of the Druids and their sacrifices are separated by fertile strips 
and great farms. Elegant mansions and pretty villages are both scat- 
tered through the Forest and stand around its edges as if enjoying its 
great repose and varied aspects. 

The New Forest was one of the sixty-eight royal domains enjoyed 
by William the Conqueror and his court, and when he burned the peo- 
ple's churches and drove the worshipers away, the country was well set- 
tled. The persecuted peasants and foresters looked grimly on while 
one son was gored to death by a royal stag ; another son, the Red King, 
mysteriously met his fate, and a grandson was accidentally shot to death 
by an arrow 

THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 

The tourist can not do better, if he comes to England to see 
inspiring sights and breathe invigorating air, than to follow one of those 
avenues through the New Forest which lead toward Southampton 
Water and the English Channel. It is a short sail to the shores of the 
Isle of Wight, with its bold cliffs of chalk, its dark sea caves, its beauti- 



TO a^-^DDYrXONE LIGHTHOUSE. I3I 

ful waves of land, its sheltered vales and soft inland breezes, and the 
resort of literary men with temperaments ranging from Tennyson to 
Hugo. The yachts are more apt to frequent the Solent, the strait 
between the forest and the island. The Palace of Osborne rises serenely 
from a gradual elevation, a graceful stretch of wooded land coming down 
to the water's edge, like the royal deer themselves whose sleek forms adorn 
the grassy slopes. Thousands of British subjects hover around the beau- 
tiful place as around the memory of Prince Albert. In the vicinity of Os- 
borne House, at East Cowles, Dr. Arnold of Rugby was born, and this 
might be a question hard to answer : Do more EngHshmen worship at the 
shrine of the late Prince Consort than at the shrine of Dr. Arnold of Rugby ? 

A stroll through the interior of the island develops many localities of 
interest. In the downs have been found subterranean burial passages 
and regular Saxon grounds. Near Newport is a ruined fortress called 
Carisbrooke castle, where Charles I. was imprisoned after his flight from 
Hampton Court, and near the castle is a Roman villa and the remains 
of a costly pavement. The children of the king were also imprisoned 
there, the Princess Elizabeth dying in the castle and being buried at 
Newport church. 

The chalk downs which make the backbone of the Isle of Wight 
extend from Culver Cliffs in the east to the Needles in the west. Culver 
Cliffs terminate in a stupendous headland of chalk called the White 
Dove, while the Needles might have once been as massive, but are now 
worn away, so that they appear as pillars of chalk. A second and a higher 
range of chalk hills is formed in the southern part of the island and ex- 
pands into a broad promontory, whose scarred, furrowed and stern face 
is the Undercliff. For several miles it is evident that immense slides of 
land once fell at the base of the exposed cliff, having been loosened by 
the many springs ; these gradually subsided into a series of terraces, 
which now appear as a long rock garden, in which grow clumps of trees 
and a profusion of wild flowers, and whose coast line is sometimes broken 
by sunny bays and valleys. This district of the island is a favorite resort 
for invalids, and notwithstanding that many go there in the last stages 
of consumption the figures of the registrar-general prove that its death rate 
is actually the lowest in the kingdom. Railway communication has been 
opened between the various health resorts, Newton, the capital, and other 
towns. 

TO EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE. 

In skirting along the sea shore, from opposite the Isle of Wight, the 
first point of interest is old Portsmouth, with a great royal dock-yard 



132 THE world's FAIR . 

and fortifications. Even as early as Alfred's time vessels sailed from 
this port to defeat the Sea Kings, Then we visit Exeter, the ancient 
capital of the West Saxons, and once strongly fortified, but taken by 
Dane and Norman. Before the Saxons came it is believed to have been 
a Briton town. Northeast of the city, on a hill, is the castle in which 
the West Saxon kings resided, and within it are large squares, a Nor- 
man cathedral of rich and massive appearance, and numerous educational 
institutes. The city is on the River Exe, a few miles from the Channel. 
And beyond is Plymouth, thriving and handsome, with a naval dock- 
yard, arsenal and productive fisheries, receiving its water supply from 
the moor of the River Dart, thirty miles distant. That dreary tract of 
swamps and rocks, and granite hills, and Druidical altars, should be 
approached from the north in order to thoroughly saturate the traveler 
with gloom, and a detour will therefore be made from the Channel by 
way of Bristol. 

A few miles south of the entrance to Plymouth Sound is the Eddy- 
stone lighthouse, on a reef, which has been photographed and described 
more often than any other similar structure in the world ; but that we 
may entertain, like the father who tells the same story time and time 
again to an ever-attentive audience, we will remark that the building of the 
last Eddystone lighthouse might form material for a romance, and that 
the waves of the channel have several times broken the thick plate-glass 
m its lantern, nearly seventy feet above the average sea level. 

FROM THE NEW FOREST, INLAND. 

One of the most remarkable remains of antiquity in the world are 
those imperfect circles of huge monoliths, but still traceable, which for 
many years have drawn thousands of antiquarians to Stonehenge, in 
Salisbury Plain, Southern Wiltshire, north of the New Forest Even 
though the temple has been restored beyond reasonable doubt, it is still 
uncertain whether it was erected by the Druids, was a Temple of the Sun 
or a monument in honor of the dead. One legend ascribes it to the last 
of the British kings, who, with the assistance of the magician Merlin, 
built it in memory of 460 Britons who were murdered by Hengist the 
Saxon. 

Northwest of the New Forest, in the same county of Wilts, is 
Savernake Forest, said to be the only one in England belonging to a 
subject. "It is especially remarkable for its avenues of trees. One, of 
magnificent beeches, is nearly four miles in length, and is intersected at 
one point of its course by three separate walks, or forest vistas, placed 



ALONG BRISTOL CHANNEL. 1 33 

at such angles as, with the avenue itself, to command eight points of 
the compass. The effect is unique and beautiful, the artificial character 
of the arrangement being amply compensated by the exceeding luxuri- 
ance of thickset trees and the soft loveliness of the verdant flowery 
glades which they inclose. The smooth, bright foliage of the beech is 
interspersed with the darker shade of the fir, while towering elms and 
wide-spreading oaks diversify the line of view in endless, beautiful 
variety. At one point a clump of trees will be reached — the veterans 
of the forest, with moss-clad trunks and gnarled, half-leafless branches — 
the chief being known as the King Oak, but sometimes called the 
Duke's, from the Lord Protector Somerset, with whom this tree was a 
favorite." 

ALONG BRISTOL CHANNEL. 

Bath and Bristol are In our way beyond the forests of Wiltshire, but 
it is the orderly way to first visit the picturesque spots in Somersetshire, 
which command Bristol Channel and the south of Wales, and which 
gradually merge into the vast moors of Devonshire, the wilds of Corn- 
wall, the adamant cliffs of Land's End, and finally the very prom- 
ontory itself, which lies prone at their feet, defying the incessant shock 
of two seas. The little village of Cheddar is not far from Bristol, and in 
its neighborhood is much of the most striking of that transition scenery 
which connects the southern and the southwestern sections of England. 
The Mendips is a fantastic ridge of rocks, massive at the base and broken 
into graceful shapes above, the scant soil which it bears giving life to 
every creeping thing (in the vegetable world), and to radiant wild roses 
and other flowers. The caves are numerous and mysterious, some of 
the passages extending for long distances underground. We are now 
in the region of John Locke's birthplace and of the philanthropic labors 
of Mrs. Hannah More, while farther to the southwest is the marshy, 
woody country where King Alfred bided his time to drive the Danes 
from the land. The site of the neatherd's cottage, where the King let 
the cakes burn, while sorrowing and scheming, is approximated by a 
small stone pillar. 

KING ARTHUR'S LAND. 

On the shores of Cornwall and from Channel to Channel the legends 
of good King Arthur are thick as the great rocks which stand out to sea. 
The slaty and granite cliffs oppose themselves to the growing fury of the 
sea and form a fitting bulwark to the country which constituted the last 
stronghold of the Celts of England. In Cornwall, tradition places the 



134 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

last great battle in which he fought, which also represents him as being 
borne from the battle-field mortally wounded and being buried at Glas- 
tonbury. It is further reported that by order of Henry II. his tomb was 
opened and the bones and good sword of the monarch were found. 
Arthur's Court is placed on the River Usk, in Southern Wales, where he 
lived with his beautiful wife. The scenes of his doubtful conflicts cover 
England from Lancaster, Bath and Portsmouth almost to Land's End. 

South of the Mendip Hills, on the River Brue, is Glastonbury Abbey 
reputed to have been founded by Joseph of Arimathsea, and the scene of 
the labors of St. Patrick and St. Augustine. Of the great church and its 
five chapels there yet remain three large crypts where Arthur, the early 
kings of England and founders of the English Church, were buried. A 
little westward from the ruin stands the beautiful chapel of St. Joseph 
of Arimathsea. Glastonbury was the reputed scene of St. Dunstan's 
conflict with the Devil, in which the Evil One, who came to tempt him 
from his forge and his cell, was seized by the nose with a pair of red-hot 
pincers. 

A LITERARY LAND. 

In the charming Quantock Hills, not far away, are treasured mem- 
ories of the home life of Sidney Smith, Coleridge and Wordsworth. 
Toward the west and Bristol Channel, stretch a greater range than the 
Quantocks, and if one ascends their heights the Welsh mountains may 
be dimly seen across the waters, while the land view is as majestic as any 
in the west of England. Famous watering places along this coast are a 
continual invitation to rest and not to make sight-seeing so tiresome a 
business. There are also many modest ones, not the less charming for 
being so. "Westward Ho !" is one of the bold kind, receiving its name 
from one of Charles Kingsley's novels — the one which Humboldt admired 
for its sublime description of South American forests which he had seen 
but Kingsley had not. A few miles of an appetizing walk finds one before 
a quaint village, buried in a wooded hillside — just throwing out a 
hesitating stone pier into a small bay, to let the world know that it is 
there. This is Clovelly, Kingsley's early home, and his first and last love. 
A little farther on is Hartland Point, a small grassy head of land, a few 
feet across, which is said to have an exact counterpart on the Welsh 
coast directly opposite. 

DREARY DARTMOOR. 

A direct and depressing contrast to the hills and downs of Southern 
England and the Isle of Wight, to diversified wealds and forests, are 



ROCKS AND FLOWERS. 1 35 

the dreary, grim moors of Southern Devonshire, The mossy, soggy 
moors are broken into many jagged outHnes by great masses of granite, 
and numerous streams descend from the heights to the River Dart, 
which flows into the Channel. In its upper regions Dartmoor is so deso- 
late that when one first enters its solitudes his imagination might well 
delude him into the belief that some unfriendly power had placed him in 
some of the rocky deserts of Southwestern Africa, hundreds of miles 
from the coasts ; but as he follows a stream through the moor, and down 
its sloping borders toward the lowlands and the valley of the Dart, the 
sweet woods and dales and sunlit villages which greet his tired eyes, 
refresh his nature and bring back the bright side of life. 

ROCKS AND FLOWERS. 

The change from Devon to Cornwall may be over a great railway 
viaduct which spans the River Tamar. A more impressive approach is 
from the sea by way of Plymouth Sound. Here the Tamar presents a 
majestic appearance, and it is difficult to believe that it has its rise only 
sixty miles away. But whether you enter Cornwall by rail, on foot or 
by water, a great difference is at once noticed in the character of the 
country from that of Devon. With the exception of the moor country 
Devonshire is a softly outlined, fertile region, but suddenly as England 
gets ready for a final contest with the Western seas, she throws off her 
pleasing drapery and opposes to the elements a stern front — mostly 
ponderous granite- and steely slate. The trees so nearly disappear 
that the natives of Devon say that the Cornish people have not enough 
timber to make a coffin. On some of the steep hills are a few stunted 
oaks, but, to draw a parallel in order to save a geological explanation, 
Cornwall is where England's backbone of hills runs down into the tail 
and therefore the appendage was not clad in rich mouldy soil, or the flesh 
of the land. The valleys which lie between the black heights of Corn- 
wall are, however, clothed with as green a verdure as can be found in 
England, and the orchards, gardens and farms thus sheltered seem, from 
their surroundings, more beautiful and more fruitful than they really 
are. " In various parts of the country, but always near the sea shore, 
we are astonished at finding in the front gardens of the houses ornamen- 
tal plants, which remain out of doors all the year and do not belong at 
all to the general flora of England. Myrtles, laurels, fuchsias and pom- 
egranates attain a remarkable size, flourish bravely in the open air and 
form hedges, clumps and fragrant screens which elegantly adorn the 
windows and walls." 



136 THE world's fair. 

The effect of the Gulf Stream upon the western coasts of Cornwall 
is to make the seasons in this extremity of the island more forward than 
in any other locality. So that while frost is king in other parts of Eng- 
land, at the holiday season, the warmed and sheltered spots of Cornwall 
are bringing forth flowers, vegetables, bees and birds. Vegetation has 
been found more advanced in Southwestern Cornwall than in Northern 
Italy, so that this locality has been called the winter kitchen garden of 
London. Many of the early vegetables which reach the markets of the 
Metropolis come from Cornwall, and in nearly every town there is a cot- 
tage gardening society for the encouragement of this branch of agricul- 
ture, 

HOUSES AND MINES. 

Returning again to the stern side of Cornwall (and that, after all, 
is the one which is forced upon the world — it has to look for the 
flowers) the architecture of the old towns is massive and rugged. Cot- 
tages and even pig pens are built of blocks of granite, of which a castle 
might be proud. Often the stone is left in the rough, so that the beau- 
tiful colors and sparkling crystals make a diversified and striking picture. 
Frequently, however, their picturesqueness is spoiled by common coats 
of whitewash. The interior of one of these cottages is described thus : 
"A single ground-floor room serves at once as kitchen, dining and draw- 
ing-room. A wide open chimney, without a grate, proves that it was not 
originally intended to burn coals. Combustibles formerly in use were 
roots, prickly furze and dried turf, which when raised in slabs forms a 
species of peat. A wooden or stone bench placed in the interior of the 
chimney serves as the family seat during the cold winter evenings. 
The laborers frequently obtain from the farmer their supply of gorse 
and dry grass, on condition of returning him the ashes. A deal table 
without a cloth, but carefully scrubbed, receives the coarse and substan- 
tial dishes which have been cooked in front of the fire on a hot plate of 
iron. The whole family sit around this table on massive benches gen- 
erally fastened to the wall." Other cottages are more comfortably fur- 
nished and, even in secluded places near the tin and copper mines, will 
sometimes be seen quite elaborate stone structures, or houses of modest 
proportions, supplied with all the interior decorations which prosperous 
proprietors could wish to enjoy. 

The mines are not radically different from those worked in this 
country, except that the machinery is often more crude and there are 
many chambers which run under the sea. The most famous subterra- 
nean mine is the Botallack, some of its galleries running more than half a 



HOUSES AND MINES. 137 

mile under the stormy waves and at places approaching so near the bed 
of the sea that the heavy rocks can be heard rolling and grinding above. 
Near Penzance a mine was worked for many years whose mouth was not 
in the dark cliffs or moors of the coast, but in a deep ocean bay. The 
upper part of the shaft was a caisson, which rose a dozen feet above the 
level of the sea, and the water which trickled from the ocean into the 
mine was pumped out by an engine which stood on the shore over 700 
feet away. Pipes which were carried along a platform connected the 
mine with the engine, but the connection was severed by a storm-driven 
vessel, and, on account of the heavy expense already incurred, the bold 
enterprise was abandoned. 

, The mines of Cornwall are, some of them, located amid green 
valleys and farms ; others have bare hills and moors for their surround- 
ings, and great rocks, in mysterious forms, lie near them. If there is 
any specially remarkable or weird formation, there are two explanations 
open — the wonder may be attributed to the Druids, to the Devil, or to 
the Archangel Michael, who (the last) is the patron of the coast. The 
headquarters of the Archangel is supposed to be the rocky St. Michael's 
Mount, which lies adjacent to the Land's End district, and, like its mate 
off the coast of Normandy, is peninsula or island, according to the tide. 
It is well worth climbing for the magnificent view of sea and land 
obtained from its summit. Historically, it is supposed to be one of the 
islands to which the ancient Britons bore the tin in their boats, at high 
water, and in their chariots, at low water, the Phoenician ships carry- 
ing the precious metal to Tyre and Sidon, from whence it may have 
gone into the bronzes of Assyria and Egypt, On the mainland tin 
mines have been discovered, which are little more than burrows — 
those presumably worked by the Britons. 

Nearly midway between the eastern bounds of Cornwall and Land's 
End is one of the most remarkable districts of England for the quarry- 
ing of the kaolin, or fine clay, from which the wonderful porcelain ware 
of the country is made. The deposits result from the decomposition of 
feldspar, thus giving the clay a peculiarly pure and white appearance. In 
some cases the substance has to be dug out and disintegrated by the 
action of running water. Then by being received into a series of tanks 
the finer particles are at length deposited. After the water has evapor- 
ated or been drawn off, the pure white deposit soon hardens so that it 
can be cut with a spade into cakes and carried off to sheds, or the sur- 
rounding hills to further harden. This is often the work of women who 
appear in white costumes, bonnets, wide sleeves and aprons, and bear 
away the gleaming porcelain substance which is white as snow. There 



138 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



are harder deposits of kaolin which are blasted like stone, the bulk of 
the product being conveyed in carts to the nearest port and shipped to 
Staffordshire, which is in Central England and also the center of the 
pottery manufactures. 

AMONG MINERS AND FISHERMEN. 

A miner seldom appears to notice either the beauty or the barren- 
ness of his surroundings. The life is essentially a sad and an anxious 
one, the world over, and the Cornish native seems naturally of a more 
sombre, but not desponding disposition, than any other nationality ; the 
Cornish giant who works in the mines is intelligent and proud, but not 




FISH SALE IN CORNWALL. 

boorish. When at home he cultivates his flowers and vegetables in 
summer and, if he lives on the coast, ventures out upon the sea to catch 
his winter supply of fish with as much confidence as though the water, 
not the land, were his element. 

Although girls and women are not employed in the mines as 
frequently as in former years the practice is still common in Cornwall. 
Their work is to break and prepare the mineral, and although their 
'labors have a tendency to make them far too masculine, their figures are 
often perfectly developed and they are noble specimens of womanhood 



I 



A DEAD LANGUAGE. 139 

and girlhood. Both they and the daughters of the sea are fond of rib- 
bons, pretty veils and lockets, and although the granite Cornish men 
protest, they know in their rough hearts that they love to see the bright 
flowers among the rocks. On Sunday the flowers appear particularly 
fresh. 

Yet Sunday in Cornwall is as John Wesley would wish it to be. Old 
and young are dressed in their cleanest, and their best includes silks and 
laces. But whether by miners or fishermen, Sunday is observed as a 
holy day, and some of them will exhibit, as an evidence that they had 
need to reform, various circles and groups of stones which were once 
ball-playing men and dancing girls. Traces of the first Methodist revi- 
val which Wesley led among the manufacturing and mining districts of 
England are yet observed in Cornwall, where he met with the greatest 
success. Thousands of the Cornish miners were both converted and re- 
formed. The work did not end there, but to this day, the Wesleyans 
and the Methodists are tfee strong sects of the country 

The actual toilers of the sea are seen in their most characteristic at- 
tires when the boats have returned to port laden with their precious 
freights. The wives are there to meet their husbands and usually several 
hawkers are on hand, as soon as anybody, to purchase for the markets. 
One of their most common vehicles is a truck, to which is fastened an 
immense basket. If the place is a considerable village there is a long 
line of trucks along the beach, and the buyers stand on rocks or jetties, 
with whips in hand, examine the contents of the boats, which are drawn 
up along the pier, and, in a stentorian voice, shout out their "highest 
figure." " Women with bent backs loaded with a dorser called a cowl, 
doubtless because some resemblance was found between it and a monk's 
cowl, bear the enormous loads of fish from the boats to the beach. All 
the people push and elbow each other, with an immense quantity of talk- 
ing, performed in that singing voice peculiar to Cornwall." 

A DEAD LANGUAGE. 

The voice is peculiar, and some of the long faces, black hair and 
large noses and mouths are not English ; the language, however, is get- 
ting to be almost identical with the English, although the majority of 
the Cornish people were once Celts. Until the close of the seventeenth 
century they spoke their primitive language, those who lived nearest 
Land's End clinging to the dear old dialect with the grimmest determina- 
tion. There is something almost as pathetic in the struggle of a people 
to keep their native language in the world as of a dying race to struggle 



140 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

against extermination. A Cornish clergyman who taught the Word not 
more than fifty miles from Land's End preached the last sermon in Cel- 
tic in about 1687. As a spoken language the Cornish may be considered 
devoured by the English. Many rocks and promontories retain their 
ancient names, and a phrase or a few words will occasionally crop out 
in familiar discourse between Cornish miners and fishermen ; but as the 
English have so crowded their way into Cornwall that there is little pure 
Celtic blood, so it is likely that the Celtic dialect of Cornwall is dead 
beyond resurrection. The most important written remains of the tongue 
are deposited in the Cottonian library of the British Museum. Sir 
Robert Cotton, an English antiquarian, made a valuable collection of 
ancient manuscripts during the early portion of the seventeenth century, 
obtaining among other curiosities a vocabulary of the Cornish-Celtic 
"which is still preserved. 

Returning toward Bristol and Bath by way of the northern coast of 
Southw^estern England, the formations of the cliffs are generally of a 
slaty texture. After leaving these two cities, up the River Severn 
we pass into an imaginary division of the empire called Educational 
and Ecclesiastical England. The Thames bounds it on the south 
and Shakespeare's Avon, extended to the North Sea, is its northern 
boundary. 

BRISTOL AND BATH. 

These were Roman stations on the great military road from London 
to Wales. Both cities were towns of the Britons before the Romans 
invaded the island. At Bath coins, vases and baths, and remains of a 
temple have been found, but within modern times the hot springs have 
made it famous. Bristol, on the contrary, at the head of the Channel by 
that name, stood next to London for many years. But the metropolis 
built the West India docks, and drew the monoply of the trade from 
Bristol, and Liverpool, from its position nearer the best coal and iron 
fields, usurped her supremacy as one of the most important manufactur- 
ing centers of England. Yet Bristol remains a great city. 

SHAKESPEARE'S AVQN. 

Bristol and Bath are on the Avon, but it is not Shakespeare's 
stream. That river branches off at Tewkesbury, where the party of the 
Red Roses triumphed over the White, and flows gently toward the cas- 
tle of the gigantic Earl of Warwick, who fell in battle a few weeks 
previous to the final defeat of his army. 

The River Avon is a branch of the Severn, and where it first enters 



SHAKESPEARE S AVON. 



HI 



Warwickshire, the quiet country town of Stratford rests upon its banks. 
The house where Shakespeare was born is a two-story stone building, with 
antique-looking gables fronting the street. In the room where he is said 
to have been born is one of the many portraits of the poet, and the walls, 
and window panes bear traces of Scott's and Wordsworth's admiration, 
while the visitors' book, which has been removed from the house, is filled 
with sentiments and autographs of statesmen, poets and novelists. Back 
of the house is a garden once crowded with old English flowers. About a 
mile away is the cottage of Anne Hathaway; a long, straggling, simple 
cottage, with an irregular roof and rough doors and windows. Man and 
wife, genius and common clay, are buried in the Gothic church approached 
through such a majestic avenue of limes. The Avon runs but a short 
distance from the walls. Up the river a few miles are Kenilworth and 
Warwick castles. Kenilworth Castle is a grand ruin, covered with ivy 
and banked in foliage. Tradition connects it with the romances of 
King Arthur, and history with the gallantries of the Earl of Leicester tO' 
Queen Elizabeth, his sovereign having presented the castle to him. For 
seventeen days tilts and tournaments, dramatic representations, ban- 
quets, songs and dances succeeded each other, during the most famous, 
of his entertainments in honor of the Queen. But now the walls are 
broken and little birds flit and chirp among the weeds, vines and rocks 
witnin the grand banqueting hall. 

Warwick Castle, on the contrary, is well preserved for an old country 
seat It is the principal residence of the Earls of Warwick, situated on 
the banks of the Avon. The approach is a winding road cut through 
the solid rock, and the castle itself is on a rocky elevation forty feet 
high. The pictures, specimens* of armor, tapestries, inlaid furniture, and 
interior decorations are interesting and elegant, and the gardens without 
are magnificent. The trees are of most stately proportions, some of 
them being from Lebanon. The visitor who comes to the castle will be 
expected to receive — at least with an open mind — all the stories about the 
mighty Guy, Earl of Warwick, who slew so many people that he retired 
with the blues to a dismal cave. There he lived for thirty years, and 
Guy's Cliff can be shown to prove it ! The giant's porridge pot, which 
holds 1 20 gallons, is on exhibition at the castle, as well as the rib of a. 
mighty cow which the Earl killed on Dunsmore Heath. 

While speaking of celebrated localities, it should be remembered 
that Rugby Grammar School is fifteen miles above Warwick Castle, on • 
the Avon. Foot-ball and cricket are still being played, and the same 
manly discipline is maintained as when thousands of American youth 
were devouring " School Days at Rugby." The chapel of the school con- 



142 THE world's fair. 

tains a monument to Dr. Arnold, the revered head-master. But we 
must hurry eastward, beyond the Avon. 

A SECOND HOLLAND. 

Much of the country which Hes between Cambridge and the Wash — 
the arm of the North Sea which comes over the great hump of South- 
eastern England — was once a land of swamps. Most of the land has been 
reclaimed and drained, but it is still a dreary region covered with rank 
grass and reeds, intersected with ditches, canals and streams, and boast- 
ing, in places, a farm house or struggling village. Game is still abun- 
dant, despite the disappearance of so much favorite water, and between 
sportsmen in summer and merry skaters in winter the land is the most 
dreary looking of the two elements. In the days when the fiat grass 
and reed lands were the bottoms of lakes and marshes and the elevated 
points, the islands, great abbeys were built upon these beautiful, secluded 
spots. Their ruins of walls, towers and gigantic arches are the most 
interesting features of the country. Some of them go back to early 
Saxon times, the Crowland Abbey having been devastated by the Danes 
and nearly all the inmates massacred. 

"All the islands in the great inland sea appear to have been settled 
by recluses. They had nothing to look out upon but ' a sea in winter 
-without waves, and in summer a dreary mud swamp.' Each island had 
its duck decoys and the wild fowl abounded to such an extent that 3,000 
ducks have been taken by one of these in a day. [An English duck 
story.] Stilts were used by the inhabitants of the Fens, as they are 
now in the low lands of Brittany and Normandy, to spy out game ; and 
the Fenlanders were, as might be expected, subject to all kinds of low 
fevers and ague. Chatteris, Soham, St. Ives and other places that are 
now considerable country towns, appear as little islands in the sea where 
all now is rich farming land." 

The former extent of this old inland sea, or marsh, was about two 
thousand square miles. The Romans had attempted to save the country, 
and their dikes along the sea coast, or the Wash, are traceable in some 
sections. The early English tried to drain the country and finally 
called in the aid of the Dutch. James I. employed Sir Cornelius Ver- 
muyden, who brought Dutch workmen with him, and his countrymen 
did most of the work. The channels of the rivers which flowed through 
the country were deepened and their mouths cleared so that there 
would be a free passage and a good current to the sea. When the 
English Admiral Blake defeated the Dutch, some of the prisoners were 



CATHEDRAL CITIES. 1 43 

set to work draining the fens. Other Hollanders continued in the 
same course, and some of them became settlers. The result is that 
many words and faces which are found in the Fen country are unmistak- 
ably Dutch. 

CATHEDRAL CITIES. 

The old religious edifices are not all in ruins, however. On the 
reclaimed sea, called Bedford Level, is the old city of Ely with a very 
ancient cathedral. The cathedral at Peterborough was founded by the 
King of Mercia in the seventh century and grandly combines the Norman 
and the early English in its architecture ; for the first church was des- 
troyed by the Danes. Catharine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII., is 
buried here; and so once was Mary, Queen of Scots, but her bones were 
removed to Westminster Abbey. Lincoln is also a town hoary with 
age but alive with manufactories and contains one of the finest cathedrals 
in the kingdom, with three towers and that hearty old bell, the Great 
Tom of Lincoln. There is furthermore the splendid structure at Norwich 
which was founded in the eleventh century. The town flourished in the 
time of Edward the Confessor. Fragments of its ancient wall still sur- 
round it. Norwich gave the language also a common noun. The 
Flemings who early settled in it used to send to the village of Worsted, 
a few miles distant, for a kind of yarn spun from long wool. These 
manufacturers of Norwich called it worsted. Harriet Martineau was 
born in Norwich, her parents being French refugees. 

CAMBRIDGE. 

Cambridge is also in the reclaimed country of Southeastern England. 
It was a famous seat of learning as early as Oxford, but, if anything, has 
shown a greater leaning towards aristocracy. The students are at the 
present time divided into classes according to their social rank and the 
amount of tuition they pay. The noblemen pay ^50 caution money, 
and are the highest, while the poorest class of students, the sizars, con- 
tribute but ^10. Formerly the position of the sizars was humiliating, 
but of late years there has been a great reiform in this particular. No 
one who is not a member of the Church of England can take the degree 
of B. A. The most famous of the colleges which form the university is 
Trinity, with which the names of Newton and Milton are intimately 
associated. The library contains manuscripts in both the handwritings 
of these diverse geniuses. Connected with the university are botanical 
gardens and museums, and a fine observatory. Every institution has a 
superb building, the appliances being on a scale which could direct the 



i44 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



minds of such scholars as Chaucer, Bacon, Harvey, Spenser, Milton, 
Dryden, Newton and Pitt. Of the architectural poems the Gothic 
chapel of King's College is the grandest and most beautiful. Of the 
buildings Queen's College is the most venerable in appearance, as it has 
iiot been rebuilt within modern times. In its principal court may still 
be seen the sun-dial made by Isaac Newton. 

The town has a much more ancient appearance than Oxford, the 
houses having queer gables and antiquated chimneys, while the very 
wagons and farmers, appearing on market day, seem to belong to the 
middle ages. The Cam, a stream- which passes through the college 




OLD ENGLISH DOORWAV. 

grounds, often bears along, almost under the windows of some of the 
university buildings, the coal, wood and grain destined for neighboring 
towns. It carries one through the fenny district to Ely, to which point 
many of the nobles fled to escape the cruelty of William the Conqueror 
after the battle of Hastings An authentic picture has been drawn of 
earls and knights capturing wild duck, eels and pike, and feasting with 
the monks of Ely, their lances standing against the wall ready for use 
should the Normans seek and find them in their marshy stronghold. 
William finally found these flowers of Saxon knighthood, and, to crush 
them, built a road twelve miles over the marsh to Ely. But the road 
was poorly constructed and sunk many ambitious Normans to their slimy 



BUNYAN, COWPER, AND VERULAM. I45 

graves. The next attempt made would have been successful, had not 
the leader of the Saxon force disguised himself as one of the army of 
laborers which was collecting brushwood for a solid roadway and set fire 
to the enormous pile before it could be used. But the King confiscated 
the lands of the abbey, and one day, when the Saxons were away looking 
for provisions, the monks paid the Norman King a certain sum to get 
back their property besides giving the foreign soldiers entrance to the 
stronghold. Both Danes and Normans ravaged the Fen country. 

BUNYAN, COWPER AND VERULAM. 

Before leaving this portion of the kingdom for the country north of 
the Avon, there are two shires above Middlesex, in which London is 
situated, which deserve more than a brief notice. The Ouse, a stream 
which meanders through them, waters the home ground of Cowper and 
Bunyan. The author of Pilgrim's Progress was born near the town 
of Bedford and was wont to visit the locality where, in prison, he spent 
twelve years of his life. The monument to the great and conscientious 
man which is erected m Bedford represents him as a preacher. 

In Hertfordshire was born the insanely sensitive poet. The rectory 
of Great Berkhamstead where he first saw the uncertain light still stands, 
and the house at Olney where he enjoyed, so many years, the friend- 
ship of Mrs. Unwin. Although Cowper's father was a royal chaplain, 
the son is buried in a church in Dereham, Norfolk, while the son of the 
tinker died and was buried in London. Due east of Cowper's birthplace 
is St. Albans, that famous borough near which two great battles were 
fought in the War of the Roses. It is near the site of an ancient town 
called Verulam. From this circumstance Lord Bacon's royal title was 
of a double nature — Baron Verulam and Viscount of St. Albans — and 
there is a monument to the great thinker in the borough. 

YARMOUTH FLATS. 

Any admirer of England's most genial, if not her greatest novelist 
will not fail to travel a little nearer the North Sea — in fact, to reach its 
very coasts and stroll around the quaint, flat Yarmouth, with its ship- 
yards and great quays and smell of herrings. It is in just such a place 
as one would expect to find Peggotty, and Em'ly, and Uncle Dan, and 
Mrs. Gummidge, and all the others. Yarmouth was not reclaimed from 
the river until the eleventh century, and although its mouth has been 
diverted several miles to the south, the Flats still seem a fair invitation 
to the sea to come in and cover them, as of old. 

And although we have left London, the mind can not but revert to 
10 



[46 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



the old-fashioned, comfortable home of the handsome, impulsive, im- 
pressible and not altogether unlovable Steerforth, in Highgate, within 
sight of the city. The few glimpses which Dickens has given of the 
stately Mrs. Steerforth are indescribably tender. The picture of her 
dignified figure bending and her hair whitening under the weight of her 
son's disgfrace. and that other scene of stony and passionate grief after 




AN OLD ENGLISH LADY. 

the body of Em'ly's unprincipled lover had been cast by that fearful sea 
upon Yarmouth flats, are both associated with this portion of the Eng- 
lish coast. In years to come we imagine some such face as that above. 

A FAMOUS BATTLE-FIELD. 

Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln and York form a compact 
group of shires, in which may be found matters of absorbing interept. 



BACK TO NOTTINGHAM. 147 

especially to Americans ; but, boy-like, we reserve the best for the last. 
Leicestershire is famous in English history as the scene of the final battle 
between the Red and White Roses, where Richard III. was slain 
and the line of the Plantagenets disappeared from history. Henry, Earl 
of Richmond, came from France to try conclusions with him, only a 
few weeks previous, collecting an army as he advanced from Wales 
straight across country to Leicester. Among other places he stopped 
over night at Shrewsbury — separated by one shire from Bosworth 
Field — and the house at which he slept is still perfect, being at the 
present time occupied by two shops. Another one of the Earl's sleep- 
ing places, after he had heard that Richard was at Leicester, was the 
inn of the Three Tuns, at which man and beast may still be enter- 
tained. In the meantime Richard III. had been advancing from Notting- 
ham. This was one of his favorite court residences, the view from his 
•castle being grand indeed. He marshaled his forces in the market-place 
and led them toward Leicester, following the first column of his troops 
on a white horse and wearing the imperial crown. The King rested at 
the " Blue Boar Inn," which has been pulled down, and on the fourth day 
thereafter the armies came in sight of each other on an uneven marshy 
■field, in the western part of Leicestershire. The immortal Bard of Avon 
is considered the most precise historian of the battle which rung out the 
Plantagenets and rung in the Tudors. Richard's crown, which was found 
near a hawthorn bush, after the fight, was placed upon the Earl's head^ 
and therefore upon King Henry's monument at Westminster Abbey 
there appears a crown in a bush. The center of Bosworth Field is 
marked by a spring, over which is a small stone structure of pyramidal 
shape. Even the well shares the ignominy of the fallen king ; it has 
•never been called King Richard's well, but King Dick's well. From the 
field have been dug artistic crossbows, and spurs of steel, and gigantic 
spear heads, some of which are deposited in the Bosworth church and 
in the Liverpool Museum ; that bloody ground placed a red seal upon a 
thirty years' civil war and the slaughter of one hundred thousand Eng- 
lishmen. 

BACK TO NOTTINGHAM. 

From Bosworth Field to Nottingham, with quaint country inns all 
along the way, is suggestive of Richard's triumphal march in the. other 
■direction. Though these interior hostelries retain their picturesque and 
antiquated appearance and their homely names, as a rule they furnish 
good fare and comfortable beds and keep pace with the times. In 
England, as in this country, however, the tourist or summer guest has a 



148 . THE world's fair. 

few complaints to make about that magician, the commercial traveler; 
who always gets the very best the inns afford. A stop at Leicester 
should not be neglected, for its castle, of which a few traces only remain, 
was once a royal residence, and in the Abbey of St. Mary Pre, also in 
ruins, died the princely and too ambitious Cardinal Wolsey. 

Nottingham is getting to be quite a modern town, with a great 
market-place surrounded by lofty buildings, and numerous manufactories 
are in brisk operation. Richard's old castle has long ago given place to 
the present structure — but perhaps young and old would like to be 
acquainted with the fact that Nottingham is noted for being near 
Gotham, where originated the story of the Seven Wise Men who went 
to sea in a bowl. 

The inhabitants were Saxons, and so hated King John that they 
felled trees across the road which he was to take, to make a visit of state 
to the town. This so enraged him that he sent a sheriff to cut off their 
noses. But the citizens had deliberated, and when the officer returned 
he bore word to the King that they were all a set of fools and not 
accountable for their actions. From that day until the true story came 
out, the Wise Men of Gotham was said in derision. 

BYRON AND ROBIN HOOD. 

It is a short ride by rail to Mansfield, and a walk from that venera- 
ble town leads one to Newstead Abbey, a most picturesque ruin founded 
by the Henry through whose thoughtlessness, at least, Thomas a Becket 
was murdered. Itwas built as a propitiatory offering and became the home 
of Lord Byron. The rooms of the poet, it is said, remain as he left 
them ; his bedstead, with gilded coronets, his pictures, portraits of 
friends, writing table and all. The abbey forms a portion of the old 
forest of Sherwc^od, the haunt of Robin Hood and his band. The 
new growth of the forest is fine and the ferns are seemingly exhaustless; 
but the old oaks are the most interesting. Parliament oak boasts of 
a green old age, for, although it still bears leaves, one of the kings held 
his parliament under it in the thirteenth century. Another veteran is 
pointed out which is supposed to be seven hundred years old. These 
pioneers of the forest are twisted, and gnarled, and rifted, and most of 
them have local tales attached to them as well as timber braces and 
crutches, to keep them from caving in or falling to the ground. There 
is the same pride shown in keeping them above ground as if they 
were very aged people who had passed through many memorable 
scenes. 



A CASTLE AND COUNTRY INNS. 1 49 

A CASTLE AND COUNTRY INNS. 

The still noble ruins of Ashby Castle are reached by taking a 
short trip from Leicester northwest to near the border line of Derby- 
shire. This was in Richard's time upon the grand estate of the unfor- 
tunate Lord Hastings, murdered by that king through the executioner. 
Around the castle, which was one of the grandest in England, was a 
stately park five square miles in extent. Oliver Cromwell besieged 
it, reduced it and imprisoned several noble dukes and earls in it, who 
supported the royal cause. Afterwards, when the army of the Lord 
Protector triumphed throughout England, a committee of Parliament de- 
termined what castles should stand 
and which be destroyed. Ashby 
was too dangerous to be passed 
over and it was accordingly un- 
dermined and brought to its pres- 
ent condition. 

In the town of Ashby the 
same quaint old inns appear — 
the Queen's Head, the Bull's 
Head, etc., etc. These inns ex- 
hibit their noble proclivities in 
A DERBYSHIRE INN. vaHous ways, the latter flying 

the Hastings coat of arms as a sign and symbol. Throughout Derby, 
also, it is inn upon inn, and every one is an added charm to the beau- 
tiful country. 

AMERICA IN ENGLAND. 

East of Nottinghamshire, beyond the River Trent, there is a con- 
tinuation of the Fen country, whose general features have been already 
described. In its midst, near the sea, at the mouth of a river, is Boston, 
England, the parent of Boston, U. S. A. Rev. John Cotton, one of our 
Boston's first clergymen, preached there for many years. From him 
have descended such families as Everett, Grant, Hale, Jackson, Froth- 
ingham, Lee, Mather, Thayer, Tracy, Whiting, etc. Residents of 
the United States have erected a chapel to his memory near St. 
Botolph's church, in which he preached for twenty years, the Latin 
inscription being by the Hon. Edward Everett. This beautiful church, 
with its tower nearly 300 feet in height, is 580 years old, and retains the 
original name from which Boston was corrupted. " St. Botolph was a 
Saxon saint who lived in the seventh century, and was almost contem- 




150 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

poraneous with the more celebrated St. Cuthbert. The common pro- 
nunciation in the eastern countries is St. Bottle ; so the transition from 
Bottlestown to Boston is comprehensible." Boston is like a Dutch town 
■ — her warehouses, wharfs, vessels and buildings remind one of Holland 
• — and in the matter of contests with the sea she had the experience of 
her neighbors on the other shore of the North Sea. In the days of 
King John, Boston merchants were taxed according to their wealth. 
London yielded ^836 to the King and Boston was second with ^780. 
Her population may now be 20,000. At about the time her great church 
was built, she was of such power and wealth that her vessels comprised 
the bulk of the navy which carried the troops of Edward to the battle 
of Crecy, France. Cromwell made Boston his headquarters for a time. 

Improvements in the channel of the river are restoring its trade to 
some extent, but the chief interest attaching to it is its connection with 
American history ; for Cotton's friends named new Boston. From 
Hartford another English clergyman went to America to found a church, 
and gave the American city a name. In fact, the Fen country of East- 
ern and Southeastern England became the stronghold of the English 
Puritans as it was that of the Saxons aga.inst the Normans, and much of 
the best blood of New England flowed from that marshy, foggy, plague- 
stricken and unattractive country. The county of Lincoln, in which is 
Boston, was the native place of John Wesley, founder of Methodism. 

Yorkshire adjoins Lincolnshire on the north and from this land of 
moors and wolds came forth such families as Washington, Penn and 
Winthrop. The Washington family fled from Cromwell because it was 
a champion of Charles II. and the Stuart dynasty. John Washington 
and his brother Lawrence escaped to America. 

A few miles from the railway which runs between Hull and York is 
a massive structure, surrounded by a pleasant park in which elms pre- 
dominate. In a corner of the park is a venerable little church. " Of 
course, a private path leads into the chancel where the family pews are. 
There is a fine collection of paintings here, one of President Washing- 
ton, on which a great value is set. The little church has the dignity of 
being a parish one, and possessing a rector, and here the parish records 
are kept. Unhappily, they are very imperfect ; those relating to Wash- 
ington's great-grandfather, John Washington, are not to be found and 
there are others of later dates which are very puzzling." 

THE ENGLISH YORK. 

Both the city of York and the county of York are among the most 
interesting and picturesque districts of England. The capital is near 



THE .ENGLISH YORK. I5I 

the center of Great Britain, and by Britons, Romans, Saxons, Danes and 
Normans was considered the key to a successful invasion from the north. 
From the eariiest times it was a chief town of the Northern Britons. 
Then it was a Roman station and the chief city of the imperial power in 
the north. Fortresses, temples and palaces arose, ruins of which exist, 
and late excavations, which have been made near the railway station, 
have unearthed rich jewels of silver and gold, delicate jars and lamps of 
glass, cameos and statuettes of bronze and ivory, great squares of intri- 
cate pavements of Mosaic work and other evidences of the magnificence 
which reigned when the Emperors Hadrian and Severus lived in York. 
Here Severus died, as well as the father of Constantine the Great, and 
many believe that Constantine himself was born in York. At the time 
of his father's death Constantine was in the city, and in York the Sixth 
Legion proclaimed him Emperor. 

Britons and Picts fought for the possession of the great northern 
capital, and the savage tribes from beyond Hadrian's wall overran and 
destroyed it. The Saxons re-established its importance and It became 
the capital of the powerful kingdom of Northumbria, out of which York 
was finally carved. The first King of all England held his Witenage- 
mot, or popular parliament, in York ; and three weeks before the battle 
of Hastings, Harold, the last of the Saxon monarchs, defeated a united 
force of Danes and Norwegians only a few miles from the capital. The 
Danes captured the city, after it had fallen into the hands of the Nor- 
mans, and put the garrison to the sword, and then the Normans laid 
waste the country for miles around and butchered one hundred thousand 
people. 

The first English parliament was held at York, and for five cen- 
turies thereafter it met there, occasionally. The highest courts of the 
kingdom even had their seasons of sitting at York. But when Plantag- 
enet went down at Bosworth Field, York declined and fell. It became 
one of the greatest ecclesiastical centers of England. The first metro- 
politan church was built there. In the eighth century the magnificent 
Anglo-Saxon church was built which was enlarged into York Minster. 
This ranks as one of the largest and finest specimens of Gothic architec- 
ture in the world, being longer than St. Paul's Cathedral. Some portions 
of St. Mary's Abbey, completed in the Conqueror's time for the Bene- 
dictine monks, stand in the midst of stately gardens shaded by a belt of 
elms, wonderfully graceful in their old age. 

Within these gardens is also the " King's Manor House," built from 
the walls of St. Mary's Abbey and the residence of the Stuarts. It is a rough 
stone building, two stories in height, with many gables and chimneys 



152 



THE WOULD S FAIR. 



and covered with vines from its foundation to the peaks of its dormer 
windows. The arms of the Earl of Strafford are emblazoned over the 
door, for when he was made Lord President of the North he took up his 
residence in King's Manor. The building is now occupied by the York- 
shire School for the Blind, dedicated to William Wilberforce. 

But York lies mostly in the past. It is the most ancient-looking 

city in England. The 
streets are narrow, 
the houses are high, 
with very pointed 
roofs, and on market 
day when the farmers 
appear with their 
broad-wheeled carts, 
their gaily-decorated 
blouses and their 
broad Yorkshire dia- 
lect, modern times 
are forgotten. Some 
of the houses are 
massive piles, with 
only a few windows 
in front, the upper 
two stories not only 
bulging out over the 
lower, but the third 
being higher than the 
second and project- 
ing farther over the 
street. In one of the 
most ancient streets 
are the remains of 
the parliament house, 
and near by the 
coach-house, which is at least four hundred years old. 

The many Jewish faces seen in York remind one of poor Isaac and 
his Rebecca, in Ivanhoe. Until comparatively of recent date the 
principal quarters of that people were called Jubbargate and Jewbury. 
When York was great, they were as powerful as Scott represented 
them, and in the royal city they were often attacked by armed mobs 
and sometimes murdered. It was their custom, at one time, to keep a 




OLD ENGLISH GATEWAY. 



MANCHESTER. 153 

record of their loans in the York Minster, but they discontinued the 
practice after the populace had broken into the cathedral and burned the 
documents. 

MANCHESTER. 

It is the county of Lancaster, York's old rival, which is now at the 
height of prosperity ; and we need merely mention Manchester and Liv- 
erpool to make the contrast forcible. Manchester is only about twenty 
miles west of the romantic Peak District, which will be hereafter noticed. 
It is the most important manufacturing city of Great Britain, its cotton 
works leading the world. The city has been noted for the excellence of 
this line for centuries. It is the center of a great canal system, and 
many canals intersect its streets. It was the home of many famous 
inventors, but has acquired the most prominence, perhaps, as being the 
rallying point of the free-traders of England. Cobden and Bright and 
the " Manchester School " are known wherever industrial questions are 
discussed. Statues of these leaders, with their convert Sir Robert Peel, 
and the inventor Watt, adorn the public parks. The present free-trade 
hall, erected on the site of the old one, is unattractive but holds five 
thousand people, and is already marked as an historical building. 

LIVERPOOL. 

Liverpool from its long dealings with this country, as the greatest 
cotton market of the world and one of the largest grain centers, has 
imbibed the true American spirit of pluck, perseverance and push. 
Nearly all the emigrants who leave Great Britain and one-half her 
exports pass through Liverpool. She is rapidly capturing the wool 
trade of Australia, and with all her strides in cosmopolitan trade the city 
has found time to improve her appearance and consider the health of her 
citizens. The sewerage system is being extended and improved, and 
the water supply perfected, so that, although the most densely populated 
city in England, she is rapidly leaving behind her former record of being 
one of the most unhealthy. Liverpool has thirty miles of dockage, the 
yards within the city and the ones which the Corporation owns in Bir- 
kenhead having a world-wide fame for their massive character. The 
shipping in the docks is protected by a sea wall five miles in length, and 
forty feet in height, entrance being effected through numerous gates, 
some of which open a passage loo feet wide. Liverpool is almost as 
great a railway center as London. The first line in England run from 
Liverpool to Manchester and was opened eight years before the London 
railway. 



154 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

The center of commercial activity in Liverpool is the town square, 
the hall being upon one side, and the American and Liverpool chambers 
of commerce, cotton sales rooms, and mercantile offices upon the 
remaining three sides, 

GLADSTONE AND HIS ESTATE. 

It is appropriate that Gladstone should have been born in Liver- 
pool, not far from free-trade Manchester. His father was first a wealthy 
merchant in the West India trade and afterwards a baronet. Gladstone 
is manly Manchester and liberal Liverpool in himself, just as the more 
meteoric Disraeli was, in one, radical and conservative London, where he 
enjoyed his triumphs of literature and politics. 

The peninsula upon which Birkenhead is situated divides the Mer- 
sey from the River Dee. On the left bank of the latter stream runs a 
good highway overlooking a beautiful country and the estuaries of both 
the rivers. A few minutes' walk from the main road brings one to the 
country town of Hawarden, and fronting on the main street are the 
gates of the castle which lie in the broad Gladstone estate. The village 
also runs along the walls of the park for a long distance, so that when 
the Prime Minister retires to his estate to chop trees and superintend 
improvements — to rest by plunging into another grade of work — he 
may be in the world and yet not of it. The estate has descended to 
Mr. Gladstone's wife from William I., through a long line of nobles and 
Sergeant Glynne of Cromwell's army. Mrs. Gladstone's maiden name 
was Glynne. Before reaching her from William it twice reverted to 
the Crown. The original castle in bare outline has been retained, and 
from its lofty tower the beautiful Hawarden park and the rich features 
of the surrounding country, which are spread out like a feast, cause the 
wonder to increase more and more that the venerable statesman can 
ever tear himself away and return to the turmoil of public life. 

MANUFACTURING AND MECHANICAL ENGLAND. 

From the Cheshire hills, which are further inland than Hawarden, 
the view of rivers, villages, castles, parks and gladsome stretches of 
landscape can not be surpassed. There are scores of old towns in this 
region worth visiting, but in the midst of everything romantic, historical, 
picturesque and charming, figuratively speaking, one stumbles into the 
greatest salt mines of England. The center of the district is the old 
town of Northwich on the River Weaver, which comes from the Mer- 
sey. Along the entire valley of the stream, huge deposits of rock salt 



PEVERIL OF THE PEAK. I55 

are found and quarried, and such is the recklessness of the money-makers 
in the old town itself that its foundations are being carried away, and its 
buildings are sinking so that they incline to every degree of the circle. 
And thus it is from Central to Northern England — from Birmingham to 
Newcastle-on-Tyne — the English delve and reap, with history and 
poetry scattered in the hills around them and worked into nearly every 
village and hamlet throughout the length and breadth of the land. 
Verily the Englishman is insular, and well he may be with so much to 
bind him to the soil. 

The manufacturing towns of Central and Northern England, the iron 
and coal districts naturally are where the inventors flourished. There was 
Watt, a Scotchman, but he manufactured his improved steam engines 
near Birmingham. He also first invented steam apparatus for heating 
houses. 

Then, later, came George Stephenson, the Northumberland collier, 
who became engineer of a mine, and made such ingenious inventions as 
constructing inclines by which loaded wagons descending to the vessels 
drew up the empty ones. When he was thirty-three he constructed the 
first smooth-wheeled locomotive ever built, and the next year invented a 
miner's lamp which is still used in the collieries. Ten years afterwards 
he established a manufactory for locomotives at Newcastle-on-Tyne and 
was appointed the engineer of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. 
Upon this line he placed the Rocket and seven other locomotives, not- 
withstanding that wise engineers recommended the use of stationary 
engines which should drag the trains by ropes. It is from Birmingham 
to Newcastle, principally on either side of the Pennine chain of hills and 
mountains, which runs down into Cornwall as the backbone of England, 
that the mineral and manufacturing districts lie. 

PEVERIL OF THE PEAK. 

Between Sheffield and Birmingham is the Peak District of Derby- 
shire and Staffordshire, a tract of country made up of sandstone and 
limestone hills, glens, waterfalls, and streams, where Walton and Cotton 
often fished together. Impartially distributed through such a romantic 
region, which Sir Walter Scott has especially favored in the " Peveril of 
the Peak," are the great manufacturing centers of Leeds, Sheffield and 
Birmingham. You should buy your clothing at Leeds, your cutlery at 
Sheffield, and anything in the world which comes in metal at Birming- 
ham. Manufacturing cities are of a stamp, everywhere, the peculiarity 
of those of Great Britain being that the surrounding country is incom- 
parable. 



156 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



Near Castleton in the upper portion of the Peak Region Is Peveril's 
Castle and The Peak. The former is, of course, a sombre ruin. But 
Chatsworth, or the Palace of the Peak, arises, stately and beautiful, 
with a solid background of rocks and dense foliage. The grand conser- 
vatory, three hun- 
dred feet in length, 
and extensive gar- 
dens are among 
the most famous in 
England. The es- 
tate has descended 
from William the 
Conqueror, who 
gave it to Will- 
iam Peveril, his 
natural son. The 
principal building 
was - nearly com- 
pleted in the sev- 
enteenth century, 
being nearly i8o 
feet square. Draw- 
ings and paintings 
by Titian, Rem- 
brandt, Murillo 
and Landseer and 
pieces of sculpture 
by Thorwaldsen, 
Canova and other 
masters make the 
rooms of state val- 
uable storehouses 
Mary Stuart was a prisoner 




ENGLISH POTTERY. 



of art as well as intrinsically beautiful, 
at Chatsworth for thirteen years. 

THE POTTERY SHIRE. 

Litchfield is a few miles east of the southern portion of the district, 
in the county of Stafford. It is an old manufacturing town, with a cathe- 
dral which sends up three great spires, whose foundations were laid 
seven centuries ago. Litchfield was made an Episcopal see in the 
seventh century, but visitors go to the handsome old town to see the 



THE BORDER LAND. 1 57 

house where gruff, practical, uncouth Dr. Johnson was born ; that rugged 
thinker who went to one root of things and could not understand how 
idealists even could find any other. The house is there on one side of 
the market square, and not far away are statues erected to his memory 
and that of Garrick and Lady Montagu. 

The pottery manufactories which have made Staffordshire the cen- 
ter of the industry in England lie in this region, along the River Trent. 
The manufacture was brought from Delft, Holland, which had been 
supplying Northern Europe for many years with its famous household 
ware. Two centuries ago several brothers came from the Netherlands 
and established a pottery in Staffordshire, but it was not until seventy 
years thereafter that the Wedgwood family introduced not only new 
and superb decorations for old pottery, but several new kinds of ware, 
the best known being, perhaps. Queen's ware. "Wedgewood was imi- 
tated and copied throughout Europe. He employed good artists to 
make designs and moulds for his works, among whom Flaxman was 
conspicuous; he borrowed antique gems in immense number ior fac- 
simile reproduction, and his taste and skill were exercised in supplying 
thousands of varieties of artistic productions. The art advanced rapidly 
in England and numerous potteries became famous'. One immediate 
result of Wedgwood's discoveries was the introduction of new pastes, 
called stonewares, which occupy a position between pottery and porce- 
lain, and for which English potteries have become especially known. 
The division of porcelain into two classes, soft and hard paste, becomes, 
in examining English wares, impracticable, since the pastes are but dif- 
ferent classes of pottery, running up from soft pottery to hard porcelain 
in one direction and to opaque glass in another. The most important 
modern addition to these pastes is one the invention of which is claimed 
by two great houses, Minton and Copeland, known as Parian biscuit." 

THE BORDER LAND. 

Above Lancashire, pressed in between the Pennine chain and the 
Irish Sea and extending to Solway Firth, is the Lake Region of England, 
and there are few more restful, serene and inspiring havens on earth. It 
is not Switzerland. It is not the poetry of Byron, but of Wordsworth. 
He was the foremost of the school of ''lake poets." Both Southey and 
Wordsworth lived by the lakes and were buried there. Scott, also, was 
drawn to the beautiful region, and with Wordsworth ascended many a 
peak and breathed in the beauties of sky, lake, mountain, valley, sunrise 
and sunset. 



158 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

It is here that we approach the borderland of Scotland, where the 
conflict between Northern and Southern Celt raged with such stubborn- 
ness. The course of Hadrian's wall, built by Rome to keep back the 
Celts of the north, is from Carlisle to near Newcastle-on-Tyne, on the 
opposite coast. The scenery along the line is magnificent, but the north 
and northwest of England so teem with picturesqueness that the chief 
interest should be centered in the still perfect nature of these military 
remains. There is the wall proper, consisting of a ditch, a stone rampart, 
a space between this and the earthworks for the military road, and three 
earthen ramparts. Every few miles there are fortified encampments, 
and, nearer still, castles and watch-towers. " Moreover there are roads 
and bridges, traces of villas, gardens and burial places, making almost 
every inch from sea to sea classic ground. A stranger might suppose 
that after the lapse of long centuries, all these works, granting their ex- 
istence once, must have disappeared. It is not so ; save in the western 
portion there is scarely an acre without distinct traces ; in many places 
all the lines sweep on together, parts in wondrous preservation , while 
many of the recent excavations present structures several feet high, giv- 
ing one the idea of works in progress, so fresh that we are tempted to 
think of the builders as away for an hour, perhaps to the noonday meal." 

Carlisle had a part in all the wars between the Romans and Britons 
and the Saxons, Picts and Scots. It was a Roman station in the early 
days of Christianity, being the more ancient seat of the kings of Cam- 
bria. Around Carlisle lie both Druidical and Roman remains. At Pen- 
rith the Druid temple, formed of sixty-seven immense stones, is known as 
Long Meg and her Daughters. The Druids early established their altars 
in this region, and after the Romans defeated the Britons multitudes of 
the priests and priestesses gathered on the Isle of Man. The Romans 
followed them, and put to the sword, without mercy, the long-haired 
priests and the torch-bearing priestesses. 

Newcastle-on-Tyne is yet a thriving city which contains car and 
locomotive works ; a great establishment for the manufacture of the 
Armstrong gun, iron bridges and ship armor, as well as other important 
manufactories. The bridge across the river, built by Stephenson, has 
both a carriageway and a railway viaduct, the latter being 1 18 feet from 
the water. 

The Cheviot hills mark the boundary between England and Scot- 
land, being the natural wall between the two countries. Upon Flodden, 
the last of the hills in Northumberland, England, the great battle was 
fought between James, the Scottish King, and the Earl of Surrey, in 
which the Scotch were slain to a man, the royal leader falling within a 



THE SCOTCH. 159 

few feet of the noble. The flower of Scotland, nobility, gentry and 
clergy„ was crushed on Flodden Field, and to this day it is her greatest 
national grief. It was well that her greatest romancist and heroic poets, 
should immortalize it. The battle was fought but a few miles from the 
Tweed, which is so associated with Scott and his beloved Abbotsford. 

THE SCOTCH. 

The Highland Scotch, those who live in the mountainous regions 
of the north, are of the same Celtic stock as the Irish. Their language 
is nearly identical, although the Lowland Scotch could no more make 
themselves understood by the primitive native of the Isle than the 
typical Londoner could enter into conversation with the Irish farmer. 
The division between the Highland and the Lowland Scotch is becom- 
ing less distinct, however, year by year, and the former are discarding to 
some extent their plaids and petticoats for the dress of the Lowlanders, 
or the English. Their clans and chiefs have disappeared, except in the 
records of the family Bibles, but their former prowess is still upheld by 
the record which their regiments have made in the history of the Eng- 
lish army. The Lowlanders were as brave, but more intellectual, and 
defended their liberty with all the military ardor of the Highlanders and 
the firmness of the Anglo-Saxons. 

The Picts were both Lowland and Highland Scotchmen, It was 
against the Picts that the Romans erected the wall in England and also 
one in Southern Scotland between the friths of Forth and Clyde. After 
they left the country to attend to troubles at home a strong Pictish 
kingdom was formed between the two walls, by the consolidation of a 
number of tribes. The Scots, a Celtic tribe from Ireland, invaded and 
held the western coasts during the early part of the sixth century, the 
Saxons having preceded them about fifty years on the eastern coasts, 
where they had seized the lowlands from the Picts and founded Edin- 
burgh. The Pictish kingdom had a shadowy existence for nearly four 
centuries, but it was gradually absorbed by the stronger Scots as well as 
the Saxon tribes of the east. The whole country at length took the 
name of the dominant race. The Danes could make no headway against 
them, and the Scottish kingdom grew in territory and power, even snatch- 
ing away some of England's northern districts. 

The Malcolms and the Alexanders are specially noted among the 
early kings of Scotland, but the difficulties, with England commenced 
seriously when a Malcolm, who had married the sister of the legitimate 
Saxon King, ravaged the north of the country in retaliation for the bat- 
tle of Hastings. The kings of England interfered in the disputes 



I 63 THE world's FAIR. 

between claimants to the Scottish throne. Wallace and Bruce arose, 
and the battle of Bannockburn established the independence of Scotland 
notwithstanding Flodden Field, long afterwards. During the same cen- 
tury the first of the House of Stuart sat upon the throne, he being the 
son of the royal steward. For a century the great earls of Douglas 
defied the kings, though one was stabbed by the royal hand and the 
whole house was finally driven into exile. After the death of Queen 
Elizabeth, James VI., of Scotland whose great-grandmother was Mar- 
garet Tudor, the daughter of Henry VH., ascended the throne of Eng- 
land, thus uniting the two kingdoms. This fortunate circumstance, in 
connection with their stubborn resistance to English oppression, raised 
the Scotch to an equality with their more numerous and opulent neigh- 
bors and assured them political independence. 

When James became King of England he attempted to force the 
Established Church upon Scotland, but the Covenanters bound them- 
selves to uphold Presbyterianism, and even hoped to extend their relig- 
ious discipline over England and Ireland. They united with the Eng- 
lish Puritans, and the result was that Cromwell bound them in chains, 
and the Presbyterian Church did not become established as a State 
institution until during Queen Anne's reign, when England and Scotland 
were formally united into one kingdom. The name most prominent in the 
incipient stages of these fierce religious conflicts, is that of John Knox, 
who imbibed the spirit of the Reformation at Geneva, and his History 
of the Scottish Reformation is, perhaps, the first great prose work which 
the country produced. It is an earnest, rugged piece of English, and 
speaks forth the national character. His native town was Edinburgh, 
and in that kingly city, "throned on crags," his house stands, a grotesque 
building with a gallery reached by a flight of stairs, and having two 
small, gabled chambers on its roof. 

EDINBURGH. 

The city, which was formerly a single parish under the pastorate of 
Knox, is principally built on three parallel ridges, the old town running 
along the central one and terminating on the west in the great rock or hill 
upon which is Edinburgh Castle. At the eastern extremity is Holyrood, 
the palace of Mary Queen of Scots. Upon the sides of this ridge are 
the most ancient houses many stories in height. The different parts of 
the city are connected by bridges, hundreds of paths winding through the 
valleys and over the ridges. Parks and gardens, monuments and great 
public structures are pitched upon the rocks or almost buried in deep 
ravines. The architecture of the city is noble in the extreme. 



EDINBURGH. l6l 

The great castle, which stands upon a rock three hundred feet high, 
approachable from the city from only one side, is Scotland symbolized. 
In it is a small room, once a portion of the apartments of Mary Queen 
of Scots, where James was born, Scotland's national regalia — the crown, 
sceptre, sword of state and lord treasurer's rod — is in the crown-room 
of the castle. Within its walls Robert Bruce held the parliament which 
ratified the treaty acknowledging the independence of Scotland, and 
James made his preparations here for the disastrous field of Flodden. 
Along High street, which leads through the most interesting parts of 
this ancient Saxon city, also marched Cromwell's invincible Ironsides. 
Descending from. Castle Hill one passes into Grassmarket where many 
of the Covenanters became martyrs, and in an old churchyard, near by, 
they have a monument erected to them. 

Queen Mary's palace is a short distance from Calton Hill, from 
which the most imposing view of Edinburgh and the country around is 
obtained. Part of the palace was burned down in Cromwell's time, and 
what remains is a plain, sombre structure of stone, flanked by towers. 
The room is shown in which Rizzio, Mary's Italian favorite, was stabbed 
to death by Douglas, and the very stain of his life blood is pointed out 
upon the floor. The palace contains a picture gallery of legendary and 
historical kings, and back of it are the ruins of an abbey in which are the 
tombs of several Scottish monarchs. 

The University of Edinburgh is a stately building of modern con- 
struction, and a renowned institution of learning, especially as to its 
medical departments. Crossing a bridge from the University, one finds 
himself in a metropolitan street, with great buildings and Scott's mag- 
nificent m'onument on one side and beautiful gardens spread over a deep 
ravine on the other. Across the ravine is the massive Bank of England. 
And so the bewildering contrast goes on, man weakly struggling to over- 
take the sublimity of nature. It is strange not that so many of the great 
men of Scotland have been drawn to Edinburgh, but that so many have 
escaped her. To this day the literary activity and vigor of the Scotch 
find their only effective outlet in Edinburgh, her periodicals taking rank 
with the best English journals. 

On High street, one of the noble thoroughfares of the old city, is 
Parliament Square, in one angle of which is the House with its magnifi- 
cent hall arched with dark oak. The gloomy jail, known as the " Heart 
of Midlothian," stood in one corner of the square, but was taken down, 
the year previous to the publication of Scott's novel. "The only memo- 
rial of its position is a figure of a heart let into the pavement ; but its. 
massive door and huge padlock are preserved, with many other relics o£ 
old davs, at Abbotsford." 



1 62 THE world's FAIR. 

MELROSE AND ABBOTSFORD. 

Beyond the Cheviot hills, from England, is Roxburghshire. A fair 
chain of hills passes through the county, and between them and the 
Tweed are Melrose and the ruins of its abbey. There are only a few 
fragments of the cloister, but the carved, sculptured and lavishly decor- 
ated church is almost entire ; the figures of which, from the hardness of 
the stone, are remarkably clear in outline. But Scottish poets have 
laid their choicest colors upon Melrose Abbey, both without and within ; 
told also of the kingly tombs therein, and of Bruce's heart which is sup- 
posed to be mouldering in some secret place within its walls. The Tweed 
runs musically through a meadow and wooded country to Abbotsford, 
and a few miles away is Yarrow Water, upon whose banks Wordsworth 
and Scott walked together a few days before the mighty Scotchman 
sought the gentle climes of Italy as a shield against death. But he 
returned to Abbotsford, for which he had worn out his life, and after 
being wheeled about his beautiful garden he was taken to his library, 
being placed where he could look upon the Tweed. He died, a few 
days thereafter, with his children around him, that gentle stream mur- 
muring in his ears which flows past his tomb at Dryburgh Abbey. 

BURNS AND THE AYR. 

The ancient town of Ayr, near the sea, is across Scotland from Ab- 
botsford. It is a bright place, the capital of the county, and is on the 
peninsula between the Rivers Ayr and Doon. There are castles near 
by and rocky precipices, but the poet found his muse with the birds, 
among the trees and fields, along the pretty banks and " among the 
braes o' Ballochmyie." Ballochmyle is one of the most beautiful por- 
tions of the river, and Burns has not lavished his fragrant genius upon 
an unworthy subject. In the village are the " Twa Brigs" ; the old one 
is said to have been built six centuries ago by two maiden ladies, whose 
effigies were carved on one of the parapets. It is but a step from 
the modest country of the Ayr to the literary Edinburgh, which then, 
as now, was the center of Scotland's best thought. From gloom and 
despair the rustic passed to fame. Scott himself, then an Edinburgh 
boy, looked upon the lion and trembled. There is a monument erected 
to Burns' memory at Dumfries, the shire town of the first county over the 
English border. Here he died and, long after, Jean Armour, his wife, 
breathed her last under the same roof. The house was purchased by 
one of his sons, a colonel in the English army, and with the garden was 



THE CLYDE AND GLASGOW. 1 63 

deeded to the local educational society, for school purposes, the agree- 
ment being that the premises should be always kept in repair. 

In the most dreary spot of this most dreary shire of bleak hills and 
black morasses Thomas Carlyle welded and polished those splendid 
specimens of thought and rhetoric which made him the foremost essayist 
of Great Britain. 

THE CLYDE AND GLASGOW. 

The Clyde rises in the same chain of uplands from which the Ayr 
flows, but further southeast. " Gathering strength from romantic burns 
and musical rivulets, the river flows in long curves, splashing over boul- 
ders, singing merrily to quiet hamlets, lending genial influence to 
meadows and cornfields, and taking into its clear waters many a picture 
of bosky hill and hazel-clad bank. Augmented in bulk by the Douglas, 
it sweeps onward to the cliffs and ledges which break it into a rapid, 
foaming torrent." During the upper portion of its course it rushes 
through chasms and between rocky precipices and breaks into thundering 
cascades. Falls and bridges there are, closely associated with the strug- 
gles of the Scotch for political and civil liberty. A tower rises near the 
Falls of Clyde, dedicated to Wallace. Below is a castle, without a roof, 
overlooking the river from a steep bank. It is Bothwell Castle, one of 
the strongholds of the Earl of Bothwell, In Queen Mary's time the most 
powerful nobld" of Southern Scotland and (by the historic murder of 
Lord Darnley and the divorce from his own wife) the husband of the 
Scottish monarch. Near by is Bothwell bridge, where, a century after 
the disgraced Earl's estates had been confiscated to the crown, a bloody 
battle was fought between the Scotch Covenanters and the English, in 
which the former met with a crushing defeat. On the opposite bank of 
the river, upon a rock nearly hidden by trees, stand the ruins of a priory 
which overlooked David Livingstone's native village. 

As it approaches Glasgow the river becomes dark and turbid and 
the great ship-yards of the city give forth their unpoetic din ; yet this is 
the native soil of Thomas Campbell, his home being upon the banks of 
the Cart^ a small stream which falls Into the Clyde. 

GLASGOW. 

Glasgow is the metropolis of Scotland, and second to London in 
wealth and population. It presents a strong contrast to Edinburgh, for 
its site is level, lying on both sides of the river, and its streets are broad 
and regular. Finely ornamented parks, with imposing statues, theatres, 



164 THE world's fair. 

museums and libraries, with immense manufacturing establishments of 
different cloths, iron and chemical, works, tell the story of present pros- 
perity and future greatness. The cathedral of the Scotch Church is the 
finest Gothic edifice in the country, and overlooks the city from the 
northeast. For more than four centuries and a half the University of 
Glasgow has had an existence, and is among the leading colleges in Great 
Britain. The city's wonderful growth, however, comes from her com- 
merce and manufactures, which had their origin in natural surroundings, 
Glasgow lying in the midst of a rich coal and iron country. ♦ Her yards 
for the building of iron ships are famous the world over. Her chemical 
works (the St. Rollox) are the most extensive in the world, covering over 
sixteen acres, and having a chimney more than 450 feet in height. 

The magnificent city grew around the church founded by St. Mungo, 
or St. Kentigern, in the sixth century. It is said he was born of royal 
blood on the Firth of Forth, but removed to Western Scotland and 
established a monastery on a hill sloping toward the River Clyde. He 
was driven into Wales by a hostile Scottish king, but was recalled and 
renewed his Christian labors. St. Kentigern was visited in his beautiful 
resort by St. Columba, another noted Christian missionary who was 
laboring among the savages of the north and west. The ravages of the 
Danes swept away the church, but the old bishopric reappeared after five 
centuries, a chaplain to one of the Scottish kings was installed in it, 
and the ruined Cathedral was repaired and beautified. Many other 
changes followed. The see became an archbishopric. Scottish reformers 
were burned near the grand cathedral. The blood of the Reformation was 
kindled, the Papal Archbishop fled to France and the Presbyterians are 
in possession of the stately Gothic edifice, whose combined tower and 
spire rises from the center of a lofty roof. 

To reach the University one traverses streets, lined with royal 
buildings, and passes through squares adorned with statues and monu- 
ments of great beauty. Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Lord Clyde and 
Sir John Moore (whose memorial we have noticed at Coruna, Spain), all 
have monuments in George's Square. Sir John was a native of Glasgow. 
John Knox, Nelson, William of Orange and the Duke of Wellington 
appear in stone and indicate the breadth of the Scotch admiration. To 
the western suburb of the city the walk is charming, the street being 
adorned with stately terraces and residences, green lawns and bright 
gardens and parks. Beyond the last park, over a pleasant stream, is 
Gilmore Hill, from which rises the University. 

Returning to the Clyde, from the university, we still pursue a north- 
ward course toward the Firth, passing churches, villages and picturesque 



THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS. 1 65 

Stretches of lawn and meadow, and a striking range of hills — the Kil- 
patrick. They mark the western extremity of the Roman wall, built 
across Scotland, and a little village at their base is pointed out as the 
birthplace of St. Patrick. 

Nearer the North Channel and the sea. as we move toward the 
more open water of the Firth of Clyde, is the old Castle of Dumbarton — ■ 
the prison of the fated Wallace, the point where Mary Stuart em- 
barked for France, and the fortress of both the soldiers of Bruce and 
Cromwell. As one gets more and more into the open sea the rugged 
highlands of Argyle and the gentler lines of the Isle of Bute — the orig- 
inal home of the Stuart family — merge into a single tract of land which 
combines them both — the island of Arran. Rugged mountain peaks 
and shadowy glens strike the pilgrim with profoundest awe in one direc- 
tion, while in another sunny bays and gentle beaches, fertile slopes of 
green and quiet, level moors produce a pleasant and soothing influence 
on the spirit. Within the compass of a few hours' walk the wanderer 
may see, in swift succession, the " hoar and dizzy cliff, and the fiercely- 
dashing cataract, the wave-lashed headland and the far-sounding shore, 
the dark mountain tarn, which ever seems to frown, and the merry, wind- 
ing streamlet that ceaseth not to play." From the highest mountain of 
the island, which terminates in a granite pyramid, this diversity of beauty 
is spread out as in a romantic picture, with cattle and sheep, neat cot- 
tages and hamlets scattered over the face of nature ; far beyond 
stretch the rugged coasts of Argyle, with their rocky islands, while in 
the other direction, if the weather is friendly, the coasts of the Emerald 
Isle struggle dimly into view. 

THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS. 

The strip of country between Edinburgh and Glasgow, or, more 
strictly speaking, between the Firths of Forth and Clyde is the border 
land between the Scottish highlands and lowlands. From the Firth of 
Forth to Moray Firth, far to the north, there are many level tracts, so 
that many Scotchmen prefer to draw a more careful line from Moray 
Firth, through the central part of Northern Scotland to Dumbarton, on 
the Clyde, and call the country west of it, including the Hebrides Islands, 
the Highlands. A few words, now, regarding the debatable land east of 
this imaginary line beyond which, until within a comparatively recent 
day, were buttressed the purest specimens of the Celtic race in Scotland. 

Within this strip of country between the eastern and the western 
Firths, through which the first of the old Roman walls was built, there are 



1 66 THE world's fair. 

two specially interesting localities. Sixteen miles west of Edinburgh is 
an old town down in a hollow, which contains among its other buildings 
a beautiful Gothic church and the magnificent remains of a palace. In 
the church it is said that James IV. was warned by an apparition not to 
march to Flodden Field, and in one of the royal apartments, whose ruins 
are grand indeed, was born Mary Stuart. Sterling Castle, rising from a 
majestic rock is further west, including another kingly palace, from which, 
within the glorious range of scenery there obtained, the Gillies Hills arc 
seen which shut out a sight of the battle-field of Bannockburn. On the 
south are steep, wooded hills ; on the east, beyond the town and several 
abbey ruins, the Forth wanders and curves through a glorious -countrj- 
of verdure to romantic Edinburgh. On the northeast are grand hills 
again. " But on the north, northwest and west who shall describe v/hat 
lies unfolded to the eye; the vales of the Allan, the Teath and the Upper 
Forth leading away through expanses of the most ornate loveliness to 
such scenery as that of the Trosachs and to the combinedly grandest and 
most graceful forms of highland landscape? All the foreground and 
the middle view are of surpassing loveliness ; and all the background 
towers aloft at a great distance in peaks which are clad in snow or 
wreathed in clouds and which rest like a vast blue rampart against the 
sky." There is not a square mile of land between Stirling Castle and 
Moray Firth in which the traveler would not grow subdued at the view 
and enthusiastic in the description. There is a mass of shattered towers 
and walls, near the entrance to the Firth of Forth, which for centuries 
was held against the King and the people by the proud house of Doug- 
las. In "Marmion" is a powerful description of it — Tantallon Castle, 
hanging over the margin of the deep. In front of it is a gigantic boulder, 
rising from the water. It is a mile in circumference, and is believed to 
have once been the dwelling place of a disciple of St. Kentigern who 
watched and waited for a favorable opportunity to reach the mainland 
and preach the gospel. 

The promontories which here jut out into the ocean before you 
come to Edinburgh have more than one ruined castle to make them the 
more portentous, and more than one rugged spot where the English 
troops spilled good Scotch blood upon the rocks. Across the Firth are 
enticing scenes of highland and lowland character, and in a beautiful in- 
land sheet of water, diversified with mysterious islands, there is found a 
fair reason for loitering. On one of the islands is a castle in which 
Mary was imprisoned by her lords, the same piece of land, not more 
than two acres in extent, having once been a military station of an early 
Pictish king. Nearer the coast again is St. Andrew's, a town placed 



THE ACTUAL HIGHLANDS. 167 

upon a rocky shelf which hangs above a wide bay, but whose history 
goes back into tradition. Perhaps St, Andrew's bones are here, as the 
people say, and that a pious monk brought them from Greece, converted 
the Pictish king who held the land and built a stone chapel and tower, 
which are still solidly upon their foundations. The town is the seat of a 
university in which Thomas Chalmers was educated, and after he had 
made a name he returned to it as a professor. 

The scenery toward Perth and far into the country is among the 
most beautiful in Scotland. From Loch Katrine in the south, whose 
waters are beautified, if possible, by the " Lady of the Lake," to the 
masses of the Grampian hills all is romance ; with dark mountains 
towering around bright lakes and streams and waterfalls dashing down 
gorges, whose rocks and trees strive for the mastery. Then upon the 
plain of the Tay is Perth, a fair city founded by the Romans, after they 
had returned from the Grampian hills and their victorious campaign 
against the savage tribes of Caledonia. When they retired from the 
island, Perth became the principal capital of the Pictish kings, and, under 
Bruce was the center of the Scottish Government. 

But we must pass the highlands of Perthshire, with their lordly 
castles and dark passes in which Highlanders and Lowlanders met in bat- 
tle ; just nod to busy Dundee, once the residence of some of Scotland's 
noblest families; leave the bold masses of the Grampian hills behind and 
approach the wild coast of the. German Ocean which lies below Aberdeen. 
The immense mountain of ruins upon a precipitous rock which stands 
so boldly out to sea is the remains of a castle where nearly two hun 
dred Covenanters were imprisoned in a muddy vault, some of them tor- 
tured and most of them abused. The granite city of Aberdeen is a fit- 
ting incident of the country, and a road toward splendid views of the 
Grampians, along the banks of the River Dee, leads to the magnificent 
seclusion of Balmoral Castle. Byron's bold genius has soared over the 
wild and majestic mountains and crags of this region, Aberdeen being 
his early home. 

THE ACTUAL HIGHLANDS. 

Much of the country between Aberdeen and Moray Firth is hilly 
and bleak — a corn, grass and cattle district — it being a prelude to the 
actual highlands of Northern and Western Scotland. Inverness is the 
very gate to the highlands, it being encompassed by gardens, woods and 
hills, while in the distance are their large brothers, gigantic mountains. 
Six miles away, upon a desolate moor, are several green mounds and a 
rude stone monument. They mark the battle-field of Culloden, where 



1 68 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

the royal troops crushed the Highland army and buried the hopes of the 
Stuart family. 

Inverness is not only the gateway to the highlands, but is the north- 
ern extremity of the Caledonian Canal, which is a number of lochs arti- 
ficially connected, stretching from Moray Firth, southwest, to the oppo- 
site coast of Scotland. " It may be generally described as along, narrow 
gallery, having the water for its floor, the mountain for its walls and the 
sky for its roof." The western entrance to the canal is guarded by a fort 
built in Cromwell's time, and over fort, valley, loch and hill towers Ben 
Nevis, Britain's highest mountain. In fact, the glories of highland and 
lowland, from ocean to ocean, lie before one from the summit of His 
Majesty. The route along the Caledonian Canal is furthermore blessed 
by the Fall of Foyers, on Loch Ness, which lies near Inverness, It is 
shut in by savage cliffs and precipices and pronounced by many the most 
magnificent cataract in Britain. 

From Inverness around the opposite shore of the Firth an unbroken 
line of precipices runs to a narrow bay which stretches quite a distance 
toward the seemingly endless chains and masses of hills and mountains. 
At the bay the solid rampart is broken. A tongue of land projects into 
it, and on the other side the promontories continue their stately course 
as far as the eye can trace it. The town of Cromarty is built upon this 
peninsula — Hugh Miller's native place. A noble river which flows through 
the mountainous region, through gorges and over ledges of rocks, en- 
tering gloomy lochs and receiving tributaries on its way, also passes the 
scene of Miller's labors as a stone mason. Within walking distance 
for one as vigorous as he, were also interesting forts and castles, as well 
as mystic mounds and circles of stones whose construction is attributed 
to the Druids. 

The shires of Sutherland and Caithness, with their dark forests and 
hills, lead toward the Orkney and Shetland islands. Those wild, rocky, 
mountainous remains of the ocean's fury are, many of them, uninhabita- 
ble. What few people subsist from the stormy sea, and their scant 
patches of land, on which they raise cattle and ponies, are of the old 
Scandinavian stock. This country of the vikings is not included among 
the highlands of Scotland, as the people are not of the Celtic race. 

The Hebrides Islands, on the contrary, which is the name given to 
the various groups lying along the entire western coast of Scotland, 
were originally settled by Norwegians, and held by them until the mid- 
dle of the fourteenth century, when the chief of the Macdonalds con- 
quered them, becoming the first Lord of the Isles. The Scandinavian 
element has almost disappeared, Gaelic being the language generally 



THE WELSH AND SNOWDON. 1 69 

Spoken. As a rule, the condition of the people is miserable, agriculture 
being followed with some success, however, in the islands of the Firth of 
Clyde, The raising of Kyloes, or black cattle, is followed to some 
extent ; but cattle, horses and sheep are small, almost diminutive, the 
latter not weighing more than twenty pounds. The scenery of the Heb- 
rides is of a most unusual character. Off the coast of Mull, an island 
forming a portion of the shire of Argyle, is the smallest of the Heb- 
rides. It is merely a dot on the map. But Fingal's Cave, Nature's 
wonderful marine temple, is one of the most picturesque works' in the 
world and a portion of that island. 

The next isle south of Staffa is almost as small, but is one of the 
hallowed spots of the world. On it landed St. Columba, the missionary 
descended from an Irish king and a Scottish princess, having, with 
twelve disciples come over from the Emerald Isle in a wicker boat. 
'1 he island had been presented to him by a British king, but, as it 
was the chief seat of the Druidical worship, his landing was opposed by 
the priests, who pretended to be Christian monks in rightful posses- 
sion of the land. But a foothold was obtained, a monastery founded, 
and Christianity introduced to the savage Picts and Scots. In the 
thirteenth century Rome drove out the primitive forms of worship, the 
islands having previously suffered from the piratical Danes. From the 
earliest days lona was considered a sacred isle, and in an old cemetery, 
near a Norwegian chapel, are the tombs of Scandinavian, Irish and 
Scotch kings; the last of the royal bodies deposited is said to have 
been that of the historic Macbeth. 

The islands and mainland of Argyleshire present some of the most 
impressive of the highland scenery, and it is hard to realize that the 
dark, columned caves, the granite mountains, the cool, bright lochs, the 
deep, green valleys, and the broad moors are the property of half a 
dozen great nobles of Scotland. One of the largest of the land owners, 
who are removing their tenants that their sheep may have more room, 
is the Duke of Argyle, whose eldest son is the Marquis of Lome, Queen 
Victoria's son-in-law. 

THE WELSH AND SNOWDON. 

The natives of Wales do not accept the term Welsh as applied to 
themselves. They speak of themselves as the Cymri and their language 
as Cymraeg. The Cymri separate it, with great positiveness, from the 
branch of the Celtic tongue spoken in Ireland, the Isle of Man and the 
Scottish highlands. 

This brave and hardy people who take such pride in the antiquity 



170 THE world's fair. 

of their race are undoubtedly the purest of the Celts. The original 
three tribes, which also occupied the Isles of Man and Anglesea, received 
the Britons in their mountain homes, as they were driven from the 
wooded and fertile tracts of England by both Romans and Saxons. 
They are not given to emigration, and even when they settle in demo- 
cratic America prefer to intermarry among themselves. The Welsh 
possess one of the most copious languages in the world. It contains at 
least eighty thousand words, among which are many derived from the 
Sanskrit. By means of comparative philology some of their scholars 
have traced the home of the Cymri — at least to their own satisfac- 
tion — to Southern Hindustan. At all events, the Welsh are as jealous 
of the purity of their blood as the proudest royal family, and their clan- 
nishness is an excusable weakness. 

Their earliest literature goes back to the first years of the Christian 
era and arose from the bards of the Druids. Three was a mystic num- 
ber with this religious sect whose human sacrifices, fire worship, knowl- 
edge of the heavenly bodies, astrology, and divination from the flight of 
birds and the entrails of animals, bespeak for them an Eastern origin. 
They are said to have come into Europe with the Cimmerians, or Celts, 
and their bards, who composed one of the three classes into which ifhey 
were divided, pretended to pass down from one generation to another 
songs commemorative of their struggles with Rome. From Gaul they 
probably passed with the Celts to England, Wales, the Isle of Man, 
Scotland and Ireland. Their religion was conveyed to the people 
orally, and to the depths of the great oak forests of England and the 
solitudes of the Welsh mountains the youth resorted to the priests to be 
instructed in their lore. The most that we know of their dark rites and 
the principles of their religion and morality, which were often of the 
most elevated stamp, is gleaned from the Welsh triads, a species of 
verse, in three limbs, dwelling upon some historical or spiritual fact, and 
sung by native bards until the printing press snatched the verses from 
their lips. The best historical account which we have of them is from the 
pen of Julius Caesar. He and his successors saw that the Druids had 
bound the Celts in chains of steel ; for the priests were not only their 
religious teachers, but were their judges. The Romans, therefore, as a 
long step toward conquering Britain, entered into a campaign of exter- 
mination against the Druids. The last stronghold of the ancient wor- 
ship was the island of Anglesea, on the northwest coast of Wales, In the 
Irish Sea. The strait which separates It from the mainland Is spanned 
by two fine bridges, a suspension and a railway tubular bridge. Over 
these triumphs of modern science the traveler passes to the island 



THE WELSH AND SNOWDON. I7I 

which contains the remains of an arch-druid's palace, surrounded by the 
college buildings of his subordinates. 

The Romans drove out the Druid priests and overran Wales, but 
did not conquer the people. Neither did they devote themselves en- 
tirely to war ; for both in the northwestern and the southeastern districts 
of the country are galleries running into the mountains and remains 
of aqueducts, employed in the digging and washing of gold. Beau- 
tiful ornaments fashioned from the precious metal have also been 
found. 

Wales is rich in nearly all of the minerals. The immense coal fields 
are in the south, some of the measures being estimated to be two miles 
thick. There are copper, lead, iron, zinc and silver in the north ; also 
immense quarries of slate and limestone. Welshmen are miners, colliers, 
quarrymen and iron workers, almost to a man. Snowdon, the grandest 
and loftiest mass in Southern Britain, is being yearly undermined for 
roofing slates. 

Snowdon is a mountainous region, the highest point of which,. 
Y Wyddfa, is 4,000 feet above the sea. The English called the district 
Snowdon from its appearance in winter, but the Britons spoke of it as Eryri 
because it was a great eyrie, or breeding place for eagles. Its lakes,^ 
groves and cataracts have witnessed English armies marching against 
the irregular bands of Wales and marching away again before Welsh 
arrows, cold, rain, sleet and starvation. Arthur and the Knights of the 
Round Table, Merlin and other legendary characters are associated with 
Snowdon ; and it was the stronghold of the patriotic Llewellyn, the last 
native Prince of Wales who stood bravely for his country's independ- 
ence. The son of the Edward to whom he owed his death was born in 
Carnarvon Castle, a grand old structure which fronts the Isle of Anglesea. 
When an infant, it is said, the King "induced the Welsh chieftains to ac-. 
cept him as their prince without seeing, by saying that the per- 
son whom he proposed to be their sovereign was one who was not 
only born in Wales but could not speak a word of the English 
language." 

The Wyddfa, the pinnacle of Snowdon, is the embodiment of Wales, 
as Ben Nevis is of Scotland. It is about thirty feet in diameter and sur- 
rounded on three sides by a low wall. On three sides are dizzy 
precipices. In the hottest of weather the atmosphere is cold and brac- 
ing and the spirits are joyously carried over much of the mountainous 
land of Cambria, across an arm of the Irish Sea to the Lake Region of 
Northwestern England and in the opposite direction to faint outlines on 
the horizon — the hills of Ireland. 



172 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

THE IRISH. 

The Irish, notwithstanding their misfortunes and oppressions, are 
among the greatest races of antiquity. Since Cromwell's time, when the 
English first really established their supremacy in arms over them, they 
have fought for the establishment of their independence bravely, though 
not always cautiously and wisely. Their line of kings goes back into 
the dim ages when many of the Celtic tribes were being driven out of 
Asia by the Scythians — the future Goths and Englishmen. The resi- 
dence of these almost mythological monarchs was a spot called the 
Hall of Tara, at Teamor, County Meath, in the eastern part of the 
island. Here the chief priests and bards met triennially to form the laws 
which were to govern the five principalities, afterwards consolidated into 
one kingdom. The kings of Ireland married into the royal families of 
their race in Gaul, and were connected by ties of blood with the great 
chiefs of the Picts across the water. Schools of astronomy, philosophy, 
poetry and history were founded by the Druids and protected by the 
kings. Tara continued the center of the educational and military life of 
the island, and from the four districts into which the kingdom was 
divided a province was formed, which surrounded the national capital. 
Later the w^arlike monarchs of Ireland not only joined the Picts in their 
wars against the Romans, but penetrated into Gaul, one of their kings 
being killed on the banks of the Loire and another, the last of the pagan 
rulers, at the foot of the Alps. 

IRISH CITIES AND SCENERY. 

Dublin, the successor of Tara, as the capital of the country, is 
somewhat shorn of its importance since the Bank of Ireland has occu- 
.pied the former House of Parliament. But its public buildings are 
grand, its streets wide and its squares very imposing. The city is 
surrounded by a delightful boulevard, nine miles in length. Within 
these bounds, perhaps the most imposing locality is Trinity College, 
standing in the midst of an elegant park and several squares, which 
ccver forty acres of ground. Clinging to this stately seat of learning is 
so much of the irresistible eloquence, delicious humor, keen wit and 
searching sarcasm, in which the Irish nature glories, that Trinity Col- 
lege, or the University of Dublin, is the embodiment of the genius of the 
land ; Burke, Grattan Goldsmith, Sheridan and Swift form a galaxy 
of stars, or rather a five-pointed star, which ever gleams over Dublin. 

That picturesque city, in the center of the valley of the Lee, with its 
old red sandstone houses, apftroached through -one of the noblest har- 



IRISH SCENERY. 1 73 

bors in the world, past great batteries, fertile islands and splendid villas 
along the river's bank — this is Cork, so close to the heart of the true 
Irishman. Then there are Limerick, on the Shannon, and, in the north, 
the great city and port of Belfast, which is the Liverpool of Ireland — a 
rushing and bustling, a commercial and manufacturing city of which 
Great Britain is proud. 

It is outside of the cities of Ireland that the hard struggle for physical 
and national life is progressing. From the western and northern coasts, 
Avhich are of Scandinavian wildness, to the flat, sandy coasts of the east, 
one-half the surface is bog, water, rock and poor soil. The richest 
farming country is the broad belt from west to east included between 
Galway and Limerick. Nearly one-seventh of Ireland is covered witli 
peat. The equable and mild climate of the country is, to some extent. 




IN THE EMERALD ISLE. 



an offset to the generally unfavorable character of the soil. The temper- 
ature ranges only a few degrees the year through, the extremes being 
forty and sixty degrees. The prevailing westerly winds come laden with 
the warm vapors of the Gulf Stream, so that vegetation is always green, 
and the Emerald Isle is not poetic license. 

The spots of supreme freshness in Ireland are, therefore, very many. 
The loveliness of Irish scenery, so the world has decided, is concentrated 
in the Lakes of Killarney, in the extreme southwestern part of the 
island. The country around them receives not only the charm of their 
waters but the gentle influences from the western ocean, so that the 
wooded shores of the lakes and the gracious mountains beyond are 



174 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

painted with all the shades of color from the light green of the arbutus 
to the dark firs of the highlands. 

From Killarney lakes to the Giant's Causeway is through Ireland, 
•in a diagonal line, and no two pictures could present a stronger contrast. 
In place of the rounded lines of the Killarney hills and the green shadows 
which fall over the lakes is a dreary coast piled thick with rocky col- 
umns, presenting the appearance of a stupendous array of piles, stretch- 
ing out into the sea in rows and masses. The Causeway proper is a 
platform of these rocks which extends between rugged mounds and 
|3;roups of pillars from a cliff down into the sea. The name is given to 
it because of the Celtic tradition that the walk was built by giants as the 
<.ommencement of a causeway to the opposite coast of Scotland. 

The remains of antiquity which are found in every part of Ireland 
make it a most interesting country to the curiosity-seeker and the stu- 
dent. They consist of mounds and burial stones, earthen ramparts, 
round towers and castles. Bronze weapons and gold ornaments are 
continually being turned up from under the soil. Of later date are 
houses built of stone and earth, like beehives, and religious buildings of 
various styles of architecture. The warlike spirit of the middle ages is 
also shown in many huge fortified castles. 




THE GERMANS. 

HE origin of the name German is somewhat doubtful, although 
for several centuries about all that was known*of the Teutonic 
tribes was that a warlike people lived beyond the Rhine who 
fought with spears, viz.: "ger" (spear) "mann" (man). Sub- 
sequently, when the Romans came to know more of them, it 
was learned that they were light-haired and powerfully built, 
blue-eyed, independent, tireless in war, industrious agricultur- 
ists, lovers of chastity and superstitious. They had bards and 
priests, sacred groves, and worshiped gods and giants. The 
God of War was their chief divinity. They elected their chiefs, 
who were often believed to be descended from Woden. The Franks, 
the Goths, the Vandals, the Teutons and the Burgundians were all Ger- 
man tribes which are intimately connected with the history of Germany, 
France and Rome. 

It is not our purpose to go into details regarding the mythical and 
ancient history of Germany, or to trace the gradual steps by which her 
small states were united into one empire. The Germans are not the 
result of a conglomeration of races but are a combination of kindred 
tribes, some of which have always given rulers to the country. When 
Charlemagne, the great Frank, ruled over them, their empire was con- 
solidated by the subjection of the Saxons, the last of the German tribes 
which refused to submit to him. He also compelled them to become 
Christians. But during the weaker reign of subsequent rulers the power 
of the king depended on the dukes who elected him, and their influence 
has ever since been great. To this must be added, during the last cent- 
ury, the gradual advance of the cause of popular government. Yet the 
strong traits of the German Empire and the German people are the 
same as when they were yet unwelded tribes ; a love of discipline and 
thoroughness, combined with a love of independence, and a genius for 
war were added to a stern family affection. 

175 



176 THE world's fair. 

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ARMY. 

The Bund, or reunion of the German States, which was consoli- 
dated in 1 87 1 by the King of Prussia accepting the sovereignty of Ger- 
many, was formed for the protection of the territory of the Bund and 
for the care of the welfare of the German people. The Federal Coun- 
cil, or the Upper House of the empire (Bundesrath), is composed of 
members who are annually appointed by the governments of the various 
states. Unless the territory of the empire is attacked the Emperor is 
required to obtain the consent of the Bundesrath before he can declare 
war, make peace or enter into treaties with foreign countries. He is, 
however, the commander-in-chief of the army and navy and superintends 
the execution of the laws. The Emperor appoints the committees for 
the army and navy, except one who is appointed by Bavaria ; all the 
other committees are elected by the Federal Council. Each committee 
consists of representatives of at least four states of the Empire. 

The members of the Reichstag, or Lower House, are elected by 
the people for a term of three years, at the average rate of one deputy 
for every 100,000 inhabitants. All imperial laws must receive the sanc- 
tion of both of these bodies and the Chancellor of the empire. The 
Reichstag may be dissolved by the Federal Council with the consent of 
the Emperor, but not oftener than once during each session. A new 
election must take place within sixty days after such dissolution. 

The Imperial Chancellor is president ex officio of the Bundesrath, 
and he is also the disbursing officer of the imperial revenues. He is 
required to make an annual statement to both the Bundesrath and the 
Reichstag. 

The military system of Germany is that which was in force in Prus- 
sia. Every German, capable of bearing arms, must serve in the stand- 
ing army from his twenty-first to his twenty-eighth year ; and for five 
years more he must be in the landwehr. In war, every soldier is 
bound to obey the Emperor, unconditionally. In times of peace the 
Bavarian troops have their own organization and are not subject to the 
Emperor's orders. The sovereigns of the other states select the lower 
grades of officers, while the higher ones are appointed by the Emperor. 

EDUCATIONAL DRILL. 

Army discipline is carried into the educational domain and for at 
least five years every German child is obliged to go through with a 
course of mental training which in many countries would be considered 
unbearable. The system of instruction is much the same as that of the 



EDUCATIONAL DRILL. 177 

United States, there being common elementary schools, Latin schools, 
Real schools intended to educate those in the higher branches who can not 
take a university course, the gymnasiums covering the ground of our 
high schools and lower colleges, and the universities to which students 
graduate from the gymnasiums. The conflict in the system comes as to 
the precise relation of the Real schools to the gymnasiums and univer- 
sities ; the former are divided also into higher trade schools and higher 
common schools,the chief distinction between them and the gymnasiums 
being that more attention is given to the natural sciences and practical 
arts than to classical training. The features most prominent in these 
departments of the German system are found in the scientific and classi- 
cal courses of our colleges and universities. The order of advancement 
for the German who is designed for a university training is through the 
common school, Latin school and gymnasium. 

The foundation of the popular schools of Germany is always accorded 
to Charlemagne. This great King was a stern but a good father to all 
classes, and a monk who wrote in his time says that upon a certain occa- 
sion he visited one of the schools he had founded and saw that the 
sons of the nobles were far behind the children of poor parents in schol- 
arship. Dividing the poor children from the rich, he first addressed the 
former, thanking them for having obeyed his commands and promising 
them bishoprics and abbeys if they continued in their industrious ways. 
To the already abashed scions of nobility he turned with an angry coun- 
tenance : " Ye high-born sons of my most illustrious nobles ! " he roared, 
" Ye asses and coxcombs ! In the pride of your birth and your posses- 
sions, you despise my commands, and give yourselves up to idleness, riot 
and disorder; but" — and here he raised his hand with a threatening 
gesture — "by the King of Heaven! if you do not straightway make 
up by diligence for your former neglect, you have little good to expect 
at the hands of Karl." 

The first German university was founded at Prague, within the 
present limits of Austria, in 1348. To the Hapsburgsis due the univer- 
sity of Vienna and the Palatine Elector Rupert made Heidelberg 
possible. 

But Charlemagne made the system possible which, in its rounded 
proportions, came from the patient hands of Frederick William HL, 
King of Prussia. 

The gymnasium student commences to ape the manners of the 
university student, beginning to smoke and drink, and being unhappy 
unless he can be the member of some mysterious society. He is no 
longer subject to corporeal punishment and looks exultantly forward to 



178 THE world's fair. 

the time when It is something of an honor to brave not only the univer- 
sity laws but those of the state. 

The gymnasiast who aspires to be a typical German student has 
already a score of songs at his tongue's end, as no university gathering 
is complete without them. Students' songs are students' songs the world 
over, but one rests upon safe ground when he asserts that in no country 
in the world is so large a proportion of them patriotic and fit to be 
sung in private parlors as those poured out by hearty German students 
over their wine and beer; and, though no defense is attempted of drink- 
ing customs, it should always be remembered that German wine is very 
gentle, and (as a student writes) "that their beer is far more mighty of 
the hop than of the malt." 

There are meetings within doors and meetings without, and special 
"' Commers," which are celebrated by an excursion on rafts, or on horse- 
back and in carriages, to some neighboring town. The revelers are at- 
tired in their most fantastic colored costumes, with their naked swords 
in hand, and their long pipes in mouth, and as they approach their des- 
tination are usually welcomed by the discharge of artillery, for the vil- 
lagers are aware that as long as the students are in their midst fun and 
money will freely circulate. The usually sleepy waiters of the village 
inn are bustling to and fro, preparing viands, the cooks are ruthlessly 
slaughtering bird, beast and fish, every house flies a flag or i& hung with 
a festoon, while the pretty girls show their beaming faces and their bright- 
est ribbons as the noisy cavalcade rushes past. For twenty-four hours 
the whole village is turned upside down and inside out ; not a drop of 
blood runs stagnant in man, woman or child. 

People who have a tendency to pick flaws in anything which has a 
reputation for comparative perfection often sneer at the liberty which is 
allowed the student of the university, making, among other hypercritical 
statements, the one that the higher educational institutes of Germany 
are merely mediums by which the professors advertise their learning , in 
a word that the universities are more for the professors than the students. 
The preliminary drill is as strict as if the student were a soldier ; all at 
once his bonds are loosened, a feast is spread before him, made up chiefly 
of substantial, and he can eat or not, as he chooses. Philosophical, 
scientific and historical pabulum, taken from world-wide sources, is offered, 
and the student may take it or go ofif and drink beer or fight a duel. 

It is true enough that the Germans have come to the conclusion 
that after one has arrived at man's estate he ought to know what he 
needs in the way of education, and if he does not choose to avail himself 
of the best privileges which the nation can offer, it is quite certain that 



EDUCATIONAL DUILL. I 79 

he has not the necessary enthusiasm and strength of will to be a credit 
to himself or the university. The average age of German university 
students is also greater than in most other countries, so that anything 
but freedom would be doubly ridiculous — freedom, within limits. 

Each university has its governing bodies, such as Select and Great 
Senates, with the rector at the head. There are regular professors and 
those who are privileged to lecture upon special topics ; from the latter 
body are often recruited most valuable members of the salari'ed faculty. 
The oldest professor of each faculty is the dean. Universities have 
not on-ly their governing boards but their courts of justice, their magis- 
trates and beadles, all, however, conforming and in direct connection 
with the laws and officers of the empire. The chief beadle lives near 
the college, and the prison Is in the upper part of his house. If neces- 
sary he can arrest without a warrant, but must report at once to the 
magistrate of the university. Various offenses against academical and 
state laws are punishable by reproof, fine, incarceration, and expulsion 
for from one year to five years, with a publication of the nature of the 
disgrace in every university of Germany. The university court of jus- 
tice may in its discretion also have the offender confined in an ordinary 
state prison. The student is given great latitude as to attending lectures, 
but he is made to feel that he is still amenable to a double set of laws ; 
and the penalties are especially severe if he joins a revolutionary union, 
which is not of great rarity. The secret university societies have made 
the government much trouble, but upon several occasions have united 
in one grand spirit of patriotic action, which has made it possible for the 
true German to forget a hundred rough pranks in the splendid vigor 
and heart of the student. 

In fact, the association of the university " burschenschafts " had no 
small part in giving direction to the movement of national independence 
which resulted in the freedom of Germany from Napoleonic dominion. 
It was during the few years preceding the great battle of Leipsic that 
German students betook themselves so feverishly to gymnastics and 
sword exercises. Each student, in becoming a member of the great 
Burschenschaft, bound himself to become a soldier, and at once went 
into training. A broad patriotism for the German Fatherland and the 
German speech rested upon faithfulness to the Prince. But revolu- 
tionary tendencies in the shape of such constitutional declarations as 
"the law of the people shall be the will of the Prince" soon gave birth 
to bolder utterances and even to bloody deeds. In 1819 a university 
student murdered the Russian Counsellor of State, persuaded that the 
deed was justified by patriotism ; unsuccessful attempts of a like nature 



l8o THE world's fair. 

were made ; mistaken ideas of liberty beclouded the moral natures of 
thousands of German youth ; a republicanism such as even America 
might be proud of also walked forth from the university associations ; 
but even the average of the utterances of German students turned so 
far away from the conservatism upon which the country's institutions 
were founded that the governments of both Prussia and Germany 
destroyed the Burschenschaft, and thereafter exercised an untiring 
censorship over the university societies. 

Yet, even in the matter of attending lectures the student is bound 
by certain general rules. It is optional with him what course he will at- 
tend, but he must give notice to the professor who has it in charge, when 
he has determined. In the German states the student must attend a cer- 
tain number of lectures in order to be entitled to the state examination ; 
and his so-called departure certificate which accords him that privilege, 
not only vouches for his scholarship, but has something to say of his 
moral conduct and as to whether he has ever participated in any unlaw- 
ful combination of a political nature. The professor is not only bound 
to the state to deliver a certain number of lectures per week, but it is his 
duty to deliver special lectures within his department, whenever a suf- 
ficient number of students assure him of an adequate remuneration for 
his trouble. 

STUDENTS' NICKNAMES. 

The German universities are as particular as the American colleges 
to make a freshman feel his inferiority. He is called a fox and is made 
to perform many little services for the " old moss heads," as they call them- 
selves. The seniors are also known as " old houses," It was formerly 
the custom of the seniors to require the foxes to black their boots and 
to write out their college notes. 

"The student receives different names according to the duration of 
his abode at college. While he yet vegetated in the gymnasium he was 
a Frosch — a frog. In the vacation which lay between the time of his 
quitting the gymnasium and entering the university he chrysalized him- 
self into a mule, and on entering the university he becomes a Kameel — 
a camel. This happy transition-state of a few weeks gone by, he comes 
forth finally, on entering a Chore — a fox, and runs joyfully into the new 
student life. During the first half-year he is a gold fox, which means 
that he has rich gold in plenty yet ; or he is a fat fox, meaning that he 
yet puffs himself up with gold. In the second half-year he becomes a 
Brand-fuchs, or fox with a brand, after the foxes of Samson. The fox 
is then over, and they wash the eyes of the new-baked young student, 



DUELS. l8l 

since during the fox-year he was held to be blind, not being endued with 
reason. From young Bursche (student) he advances next to old 
Bursche, and then to Be-mossed Head, the highest state of honor to 
which man can attain." The student is dubbed a brand-fox because of 
a certain ceremony through which he is put by his superiors. 

DUELS. 

One of the most common forms of oppression by which the Old 
Houses assert their superiority over the foxes is to pretend to discover 
cause for a duel in something which is said or done ; and if the fresh 
young man should be worked into such a state of defiance as actually to 
accept the challenge, he may be coolly ignored as being unworthy of 
attention. If equals desire to bring a duel one has only to call the other 
" dummen Junger," or " stupid youth " and the business is done, unless 
a retraction follows. If the offense or injury calls for some graver form 
of insult, " Infamen," or "infamous fellow" is the applied epithet. 
The weapons usually chosen are long, flexible, two-edged swords with 
square ends and basket hilts. Pistols or heavy, crooked sabres are 
employed when one of the parties is not a student, or the cause of dis- 
pute is very serious. If the student fights with a military man he uses 
the straight sabre. 

Most of the duels between the students are hatched at their general 
meetings, which are held weekly. It is customary for them to divide 
into corps, or companies, according to nationalities or provinces, and 
few meetings will be concluded without a whole table being pitted against 
another, not only in the display of wit over their beer, but in the more 
exciting display of flashing blades. But duels are unlawful ; so these 
differences- are usually settled in a large rented room of some suburban 
inn. When the floor of the room is found marked with a certain chalk 
character, it is known by any subsequent comers that the quarters may 
be occupied by rival swordsmen for at least two duels. 

At the appointed time each participant is conducted into a cham- 
ber by his witness and second, and clothed in the dueling costume, which 
consists usually of a cap to protect the face, a glove and quilted cover- 
ing for the arm and high stuffed leather trousers. Before hostilities 
actually commence the duelist also puts on a neckcloth, which sometimes 
reaches to his nose, so that a small portion of his face and his breast is 
the only part of his body really exposed. 

Being equipped, the swordsmen are conducted into the hall, and 
while the seconds are marking out the lines within which they must 



1 82 THE world's FAIR. 

fight and arranging the other preliminaries, the principals march up and 
down, each supporting his mighty sword arm upon his witness. The 
duelists may decide to fight with small caps or with large caps, with 
cravats or without cravats, with bandages or without them ; they may 
also have the contest terminate with a certain number of rounds, if the 
surgeon does not decide that a wound is too serious to warrant further 
action, or the trial may end with a wound which draws blood within a 
definite number of rounds. The students are closely attended by their 
witnesses and seconds, the umpire standing some distance away between 
the combatants, and scoring the end of each round on a chair which 
stands before him. The seconds are armed with short, strong rapiers, 
with which they strike the swords apart when a stroke has been delivered, 
give advice and encouragement and see that the opponent presents his 
sword at such an angle that his champion will not fall upon its point 
when he lunges forward. They must, in fact, be remarkably skillful 
themselves, their object being to protect their combatant without inter- 
fering with the strokes of the adversary. The duties of the witnesses, 
who stand on the right side of the rivals, are confined to arranging dis- 
ordered costumes and supporting weary right arms when a halt has been 
called. 

Except the duels with the crooked sabre, In which the heavy, keen 
weapon, having reached Its point, is drawn suddenly downward with great 
force, these contests seldom result seriously. But as we have noticed, 
there are strict academical laws against them, and as a neat reward is 
offered to those beadles who have prevented and detected the greatest 
number of them, the most secret chambers and grounds are often rudely 
invaded by these hounds of the law. Upon their approach the outpost 
whom the students have engaged gives notice of the threatened danger, 
and the dueling costumes are torn from the bodies of the students, 
there is a great scattering through doors and windows. Into the woods, 
and each one finds his way back to the university as best he can. 

The beadles, however, often approach In disguise, as peasants and 
sportsmen, and not unfrequently a wholesale capture Is made and the 
delinquents are marched off to the university prison In the attic of the 
chief beadle's house. In some universities the confinement is not so 
strict but that the prisoner may drink, smoke, and chat with his acquaint- 
ances whom the magistrate admits, and after a few days he may attend 
lectures, returning to his prison at night ; in others books and visits are 
denied, the student can not leave the prison and during the daytime his 
bed Is even carried away so that he can not lie down and smoke his sen- 
tence away. 



DUELS. 183 

Sword bouts and drinking bouts do not comprise the student's life r 
neither is all said when he makes one of the great throng which pours 
forth to the dancing garden. He is invited to the homes of professors, 
becomes a welcome member of a city family, and joins reading circles, 
musical and social clubs. He takes long walks and rides with his com- 
panions through the surrounding country and in winter enjoys one of 
the sledging processions, which issue forth from most university towns to 




the thundering cracks of heavy whips, lighted on their way by a mass 
of torches. And lastly, life at a German university is not child's play. 
While the student is at his work his brain buzzes with the strain ; from 
his necessities spring many of his uproars and pranks, and although he 
is not called upon to be a boor or a rough there is a fascination in the 
irrepressible height which his spirits reach when he has once set out to 
scour the rust of study hours from his variegated nature. 




AN OLD UNIVEKSri Y 



GREAT UNIVERSITY LIGHTS. 1 85 

GREAT UNIVERSITY LIGHTS. 

Although a native is received into the university through the gymna- 
sium, only foreigners are admitted without examination. When the stud- 
ent has received his certificate of maturity, he not only can enroll himself 
in any university, but can continue his course at any number where he 
thinks he can obtain the most benefit. He can board and lodge where 
he pleases, and is virtually his own master. The regular course of study 
is four years, some of the universities requiring five years to complete 
the medical course. Dismissal from one university does not bar one out 
from another, but expulsion is final. 

Most of the great literary lights of Germany have availed them- 
selves of the privilege, studying, gleaning and experimenting at several 
universities before returning to enter the world of letters. The 
mighty Goethe went to Leipsic and Strasburg to study law, but found 
that love, philosophy, architecture, anatomy and anything but legal 
studies took hold of him. He also fled to Wetzlar that he might, if he 
would, drain the law libraries there; but instead he wrote the " Sorrows 
of Werther." There is nothing like the free range of university life in 
Germany to teach a young man wherein his strength lies ; for the best 
of everything is spread before him in one university or another. 

Bonn, Berlin and Gottingen succeeded in imposing the degree of 
Doctor of Law upon Heine, Germany's greatest lyric poet, but he met 
Schlegel at the former university and discovered that he could not live 
outside the charmed circle of literature. Furthermore he became a 
violent democrat, and on account of some letters addressed to Count 
Von Moltke found it advisable to spend the balance of his life in Paris. 

Next to Goethe, Schiller is recognized as Germany's greatest poet. 
Under the patronage of a duke he tried to press his soul into legal and 
medical fetters, but could not. Although he passed the examination for 
a military surgeon by the time he was of age, the publication of "The 
Robbers" during the same year told where his enthusiasm had been. A 
few years thereafter he was drawn to Leipsic, in which famous university 
town he met contemporaries worthy of his friendship. Schiller was after- 
wards invited to Weimar by the Grand Duke, Karl-August, and formed* 
for many years, one of a famous quartette, having as companions Goethe, 
Herder and Wieland. The ducal palace, the town church and public 
library still show frescoes illustrating their works, and striking busts 
which add a charm to the frescoes. Herder's tomb is in the town 
church and the bodies of Goethe and Schiller lie in the grand-ducal 
burial vault. 



1 86 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

HEIDELBERG. 

The university of Heidelberg is the oldest of the German institutes 
after those of Prague and Vienna. It stands in the center of the town 
which wanders for nearly three miles along the banks of the rushing 
Neckar River, gleaming waters and the vine-clad hills on the further 
shore to attract the eyes on one side and the beautiful suburban gar- 
dens and lightning-rifted castle of the Electors Palatine on the other. 
The university is a plain structure, the library comprising over 200,000 
volumes, and the museums being contained in two separate buildings. 
The university has a world-wide reputation for the completeness of its 
departments, the castle is almost as celebrated as the university, and the 
beer tun, in the cellar of the deserted castle, has become as notorious as 
either. 

The castle ruins almost throw their fantastic shadows down the 
face of the rocky hill upon the houses of the town. The castle proper 
has as companion pieces two towers which show that the engines of war 
are almost as mighty as those of nature, and behind it, upon the same 
broad terrace, are masses of older palaces and towers, the entire pile rep- 
resenting different styles of architectures prevalent during three or four 
centuries. Next to the Alhambra of Granada, the Castle of Heidel- 
berg has been pronounced the most magnificent ruin of the middle ages. 

In the valley below rushes the Neckar. The mountain of All Saints, 
with its ruined convent for a head dress, rises from the farther bank. 
Eastward the valley is shut in by hills ; westward the sweep over the 
plain of the Rhine is free. Beyond rise the blue Alsatian mountains. 

The dark paths of the castle gardens and their shadowy glens lead 
through valleys, fields and vineyards to the dense beech woods of the 
Odenwald and beyond the mountains themselves. These are fascinating 
and favorite walks for the students and villagers, and once upon the 
heights the picturesque and historical plain of the Rhine is before you. 
In the distance is Worms where the mythical Siegfried sought the hand 
of Kriemhild and where the unquestionable Luther fought a greater bat- 
tle than the " Nibelungen Lied" ever recorded. Toward the south is 
ancient Swabia, and now the German may look boldly over into France. 

LEIPSIC. 

Around Leipsic, the university city of Saxony, circled many of the 
whirlpools of the Reformation. Luther, the intellectual general of the 
movement, was a native of Saxony, and his first disciples were the students 
of the Wittenberg university, in which he taught as the professor of 



LEIPSIC. 187 

scholastic philosophy. The text of the Latin theses which he nailed on 
the door of the old Schlosskirche now appears on the bronze doors of the 
new church, while heroic statues of himself and the scholarly, more gentle 
Melanchthon stand near the town hall. In the church the two are 
buried together, the two intellectual leaders of the Reformation in Ger- 
many — and if any of the princes of the German states can claim the 
questionable honor of defending religious liberty with the sword they are 
surely those of Saxony. Maurice of Saxony established the principle of 
hberty of worship for all the states of Germany, and, while the first 
bursts of public passion were raging, Luther owed his safety to Frederick 
the Wise. Under his protection he was lodged in a castle, and given that 
security and quiet which enabled him to translate the New Testament. 
The university of Wittenberg, afterwards merged with that of Halle, 
welcomed him when he again entered actively into the fight and over 
her he always hovered as over a favorite child ; but the learned profes- 
sors of the Leipsic university took up his work, and brought as power- 
ful weapons to bear as any of the royal protectors of Lutheranism, 

The university of Leipsic was founded during the first part of the 
fifteenth century, and having retained its landed estates in the city, it is 
a very wealthy landlord, and is enabled to support hundreds of poor stu- 
dents who are found worthy of assistance. It is great in all its depart- 
ments, and its professors have been among the most eminent scholars of 
Germany. The university buildings form an imposing pile.the most prom- 
inent being the Augusteum, which contains a great hall, lecture room, mu- 
seum and libraries. The structure is 300 feet in length and three stories 
high. 

Hahnemann studied in the university, and after he had practiced 
his profession for several years, he returned to Leipsic, with his confi- 
dence shaken in the old system. His family were suffering with disease 
and he was obliged to prescribe for them according to methods in which 
he did not believe. Virtually abandoning his profession, although he 
was struggling with poverty, he devoted himself to translating foreign 
medical works. It was while thus engaged that he obtained the clue to 
the law of Similia similibus, which is the foundation of the system of 
homoeopathy. Leipsic feels that he is one of her sons, and has a monu- 
ment erected to him. 

Of all the great men who have been citizens of Leipsic, John Bach, 
the musician, is among the greatest. He died in Leipsic, and his mon- 
ument commemorates the blessed fact that he lived to inspire more peo- 
ple than the most eloquent of orators. The city which so long has 
been a treasury of genius and learning is one of the leading book cen- 
ters of Germany, as well as one of the foremost of its commercial marts. 



I 88 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

The downfall of Napoleon dates from Leipsic, 1813, rather than 
from Waterloo, 181 5. Here he was overpowered and smothered by the 
overwhelming forces of Prussia, Austria and Russia. Though the Old 
Guard fought with a dash which will always inspire enthusiasm as long as 
there is a history of war, and the entire army of France were heroes 
worthy of being defenders of their own soil, the invaders were expelled 
and Germany became free. 

AGRICULTURISTS. 

Perhaps, next to her soldiers and her scholars, Germany is rhost noted 
for her peasantry. The government earnestly supports agricultural 
colleges and the people have made of farming a scientific study. It is 
singular how, even among the most ignorant of the peasantry, the latest 
methods of irrigation and rotation of crops have been disseminated. 
The holdings are generally so small, however, that the most improved of 
farming implements do not cut a figure. But when each agricultural 
village sends its representatives to Leipsic, or some other city where the 
annual congress is held, it receives, with the return of its honored 
citizens, the result of the combined experience of thousands of farmers 
and scientists. The consequence is that not a square foot of land which 
can be cultivated goes to waste ; as the majority of the young men serve 
in the army the women form the bulk of the peasantry, which fact, also, 
accounts for the care which is taken that the profits of husbandry do not 
leak away in driblets of waste. 

Every province, furthermore, has it general society, consisting of 
members from all the rural districts. They are publicly questioned by 
a general committee as to lay of land, methods of irrigation, ways of 
managing cattle, results obtained from various methods of grafting, etc., 
etc. Statements are compared, discussions are in order, changes and 
improvements are suggested, and the farmers go home to discuss the 
discussions among themselves and in their local gatherings and instruct 
their wives and daughters — or, likely enough, give orders to them. 

Although, as he runs, the German agriculturist is a remarkably 
intelligent, industrious citizen his home is not what it should be. On 
account of the value of land he can not afford a garden, his yard being 
monopolized by the cows, and, within, his house is dark and contracted, 
it being one of many which are crowded into the narrow lane of a dirty, 
old town. But his floors are white and sanded and he can offer you 
coffee, black bread and rolls in the early morning, a cold-meat luncheon 
in the forenoon, and a dinner of meat, vegetables and dessert. In season, 
he furnishes his table with apples, plums, grapes and pears ; for there 



AGRICULTURISTS, 1 89 

are few farmers, however small, who have not their orchards, and nearly 
every village has an experimental nursery of fruit trees. 

If the cattle and pigs, geese, hens and chickens were not so near, 
and the dining room table were not put to so many uses, and the drink- 
ing vessels corresponded to the mouths, the fare of the average German 
farmer would be appetizing enough ; but though there is plenty there is 
not freedom. The cattle, sheep and pigs are obliged to be penned, as a 
rule ; there is no room for them to roam. In summer the children and 
women go daily to the pasture and cut green fodder — grass and 
clover. Most of the land is devoted to pasturage. It is carefully sown 
to clq>ver and the best of grasses, and tended v.dth the same regard to 
individual blades and leaves as the florist gives to his most valued hot- 
house products. 

Occasionally it happens that the pasture land is irregular and does 
not incline at a convenient angle for irrigation. Then the men and 
women remove the entire turf and layer of good earth. Next they take 
away enough unproductive subsoil to obtain the proper pitch, so that 
the water may run over the field. The meadow is graded, the fertile soil 
thrown over it, the turf relaid and the trenches formed through which 
the water is to be distributed. Sometimes a well is dug on the upper 
side of the inclined plane from which the water is run into the supply- 
ing canal which crosses the field, whether of grass, grain or vegetables. 
At the bottom of the^field is the receiving canal. Between the two, 
crossing at right angles, are the narrow furrows for distribution. There 
is a science of grading the land so that the water will reach every part 
without disturbing the soil ; there is a science in knowing when to 
flood a field, so that the crops will not be chilled ; there is a science in 
the entire industry. Snow water should not be used, as it has a tend- 
ency to dissolve the earth and carry away its richest particles. "After 
the crops are gathered and the land clear, the water overflows two or 
three times a week during the autumn, till frost comes. In spring it is 
done in the night, two or three times a week, when it is dry and warm 
enough not to freeze, as this would injure the grass ; again, in June, just 
before haying time, as thus the stems are rendered softer and the mow- 
ing easier. Then for the fourth and last time, fifteen days after the 
mowing is finished, and when the stubble is dry and decayed, so that it 
will not take in nourishment which is destined for the new shoots, the 
whole is overflowed quite often till fifteen days before the grain harvest 
commences." 

A meadow thus coaxed and cultivated will yield enormous crops of 
feed, many fold greater than if left to the tender uicrcies cl the cattle 



I90 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



and sheep. The number of animals which it will support is increased 
enormously, and with this increase another advantage is derived. Not 
only are the animals housed and all manures carefully preserved to fer- 
tilize grain-field, orchards and gardens, but the rich fluids from the 
heaps, which most husbandmen allow to run to waste, are collected into 
trenches, drawn by suction pipes into carts and employed as an inval- 
uable fertilizer. 

There are few exceptions among the German agriculturists to this 
ceaseless round of bringing feed to the animals, and fertilizers to the 
fields ; in short, they allow nothing to take care of itself. But in some 
of the villages the cattle of the poor are allowed to crop the grass by 




A VILLAGE GROUP. 



the wayside for a few hours daily, the balance of their sustenance being 
obtained through the efforts of the children and the women, who scour 
hill and vale with knives and sickles, cutting blades and tufts of grass 
which have been overlooked by the harvesters and putting them into 
baskets or cloths. In the forests they may be seen gathering the cones, 
which fall from the fir trees, to use for fuel. 



THE FORESTS OF GERMANY. 

The peasants and villagers are very particular what they do in the 
forests, for if not actually government property they are under its super- 



THE FORESTS OF GERMANY. I9I 

vision and control. The preservation and cultivation of timber lands 
have been as carefully studied as the science of agriculture, and there 
are few timber tracts of any extent in the empire through which one can 
pass without discovering miniature forests and groves, neatly fenced, 
which are destined to take the place of the giants which are constantly 
being felled. The most extensive forests are found in Central and 
Southern Germany, and, at different times and by different writers, they 
have all been merged into the depths of the Hercynian Forest, the bug- 
bear even of old Rome. 

The blackest member of this dense Hercynian Forest is the Black 
Forest, which for ninety miles throws a mighty covering of pine, beech 
and fir trees nearly to the summit of a mountain chain. The forest 
stretches from near Heidelberg, in Northern Baden, along the valley of 
the Rhine almost to the Swiss boundary. Within it rises the great Danube, 
and the black woods of fir, whose branches are so intertwined that the 
very twitter of the birds has a muffled sound, have given birth to more 
giants, hobgoblins and robbers to frown upon the dreams of childhood 
than all other localities upon the surface of the earth. But the Black 
Forest is not all shadow, from which horrors issue. For eight months 
in the year the summits of the mountains above it wear their caps of 
snow, and from its feet creep pretty valleys clad with grass and vines, 
for as many months. The Rhine side of the forest pitches the rivers 
down the steep rocks with tumult and roar of waters ; its eastern slopes 
shed them off so gently that they flow through the cool shades of the 
fragrant woods with just murmur enough to prove them alive. 

The Black Forest spreads out from the mountains for several miles 
on either side, and openings in it are planted to small fields of rye, oats 
or potatoes, with here and there a saw-mill humming and screaming on 
the bank of a picturesque stream ; or a farm house, with its wide project- 
ing roof and balcony beneath, appears ; or a whole village containing 
factory buildings where the rye straw is being turned into hats and some 
of the forest timber into clocks. Most of the strength of the Black 
Forest, however, goes into the masts and timbers of ships. 

But the important manufacturing processes go on in the little forest 
houses. Whatever the denizens of the Black Forest might have once 
been, they are now as harmless as the canary birds which they raise in 
the aviaries beneath their porcelain stoves. This is a great business with 
the foresters and can almost be included among the manufactures. But 
while the birds are trilling in their tropic heat, or hopping merrily about, 
the women are braiding straw or making and polishing different parts of 
clocks and watches. When the straw has been braided it will be taken 



192 THE world's FAIR. 

to the factory, thrown into a vat, boiled in the dye and dried and ironed 
by men. In such a factory also can be seen flowers, wreaths and 
bouquets, fashioned and colored most beautifully by these forest peasant 
women. In the clock and watch factory it is noticed that the women and 
men there employed are merely putting the pieces together which are 
made in the cottages. Neither are the clocks all common in appearance, 
many of them being placed upon fine bronze and marble stands. When 
it is stated that about 180,000 of these wooden clocks are exported yearly 
from the Black Forest to all parts of Europe and America, no one will 
say that we have wasted words upon a very insignificant topic. 

Furthermore, the busy women and children of the Black Forest 
send out many of those wooden sets of villages, with those pyramidical 
fir trees, which have pleased the children of all lands. The spinning 
wheel, with wool or flax upon the distaff, is busy, when the women can 
snatch time from their farm and household labors ; the men give 
much of their attention to the raising of cattle, the country being better 
fitted for that branch of husbandry than for agriculture. And yet, not- 
withstanding there are few people who are more industrious and cheer- 
ful than these dwellers in the Black Forest, their houses are meanly fur- 
nished and their bill-of-fare rests upon pork, black bread, coffee and 
potatoes. 

The lace makers of Saxony, and many of the industrial classes all 
over Germany, are home manufacturers. Cotton and woolen fabrics, 
glass and iron manufactures and other branches which flourish in the 
large cities, have been drawn into the whirl of machinery. The toys of 
the Black Forest and the Hartz Mountains have their uses, and so do 
the gigantic guns of Herr Krupp. 

Their manufacture has founded a city. In the works and in the 
mines over 20,000 men are employed. A railway system, a telegraph 
system, printing and lithographic establishments, a fire brigade, hospi- 
tals, mansions and good dwelling houses are parts of Herr Krupp's 
wonderful machine. He speaks of his furnaces in four figures and the 
engines which supply the blasts which run his four-score giant hammers, 
and are behind the roaring, belching, hissing and deafening monster 
which we call works, are pushing the whole grand machine forward with 
the power of ten thousand horses. His foundries are at Essen. 

THE HIGH AND LOW GERMANS. 

It was in the vicinity of Essen and Miinster and westward along the 
Rhine that the old Saxon sprung up as a written dialect, which was 
spoken in the lowlands of Central Germany from the Rhine to the Elbe. 



THE GERMAN AND THE RHINE. 



193 



The Saxons were, and still are, the most prominent representatives of 
the Low Germans, or those Inhabiting the lowlands of Germany. North 
of them were the Frisians, who were also Low Germans, and who 
formed so important an element in the composition of the Dutch. 

The most ancient confederation of Germanic tribes was called the 
Suevi. They were mentioned by Csesar as living between the Elbe, the 
Vistula and the Baltic, in what would now be Northern Prussia. Sub- 
sequently they appear In Southern Germany as the Swabians. The 
Bavari were also settled east of them on the Lower Rhine. The Swab- 
ians, Bavarians, Alsatians and Swiss belong to the High German division. 
There is still a modern Low German, but from Luther's time the High 
German of the south, and the middle High German, which closely 




WATCHING THE RHINE. 



resembled the Saxon, have been formed Into the language which is now 
recognized as classical. His translation of the Bible had its effect in 
making of the various German tribes a united people, and since his day 
the distinction between High and Low Germans has not been so 
marked. 

Perhaps in Luther and the Rhine may be found the two influences 
which made United Germany possible. 

THE GERMAN AND THE RHINE. 

The Rhine is the national cord which binds Germany more firmly- 
together than even her constitution. There are High and Low Germans, 
Bavarians and Hanovarlans, but they are all agreed that the Rhine is 
the dearest river in the world, and If only one thing could be left to the 
Fatherland every strong native voice would shout, " The Rhine ! The 
Rhine ! Take all but the Rhine ! " The river is like the most pleasing 
type of the national character — broad, deep, rugged, tender, impetuous 



T94 THE world's FAIR. 

yet controllable. Primarily it draws its life from the glaciers arid cold 
streams of the Alps. As it rushes along toward the Fatherland it 
receives hundreds of tributaries, until, no longer able to contain its vast 
supplies, it spreads out into the fickle Lake of Constance. Somewhat 
subdued in its impetuosity, it flows steadily toward France, but as if 
suddenly determining upon another course, turns abruptly to the north 
and becomes the loved one of Germany. If there is any one part more 
than another to which the national heart clings and over which it swells, 
Tvhere " The Watch on the Rhine " will burst forth from German lips 
■and echo along steep rugged banks, among ruined fortresses and heavily 
laden vineyards, it is that portion of the splendid river which lies between 
Mainz and Bonn. 

But others than the Germans have become drunk with the glories 
of the Rhine. One of the greatest of our American poets and most 
imellow of scholars exclaims : " O, the pride of the German heart is 
this noble river ! And right it is ; for of all the rivers of this beautiful 
earth, there is none so beautiful as this. There is hardly a league of its 
whole course, from its cradle in the snowy Alps to its grave in the sands 
of Holland, which boasts not its peculiar charms. By heavens ! If I 
were a German I would be proud of it, too ; and of the clustering grapes 
that hang about its temples, as it reels onward through vineyards, in a 
triumphal march, like Bacchus crowned and drunken. Bwt I will not 
attempt to describe the Rhine ; it would make this chapter much too 
long. And to do it well, one should write like a god, and his style flow 
onward royally with breaks and dashes, like the waters of that royal 
river, and antique, quaint and gothic times be reflected in it." 

FOLK LORE. 

To every old castle which hangs fondly over the banks of the 
Rhine, as if loth to give up the ghost, some weird tale of genius or giant, 
or of bold knight and fair lady, is attached. There is scarcely a foot of 
ground which does not add its mite to the folk lore of Germany ; and 
since many good people have become religious, the old ideas of sprightly 
dwarfs and helpful fairies have been strangely entangled with the God 
and Christ and angels of their faith. The Lord himself is supposed to 
come to earth and in various forms, during the silent watches of the night, 
mysteriously repair the leaking roof of the godly widow, caulk and paint 
the old boat of the good fisherman and put together the barrels of the 
pious cooper. The ghosts still haunt the castles, the fairies hide in the 
forests and the gnomes delve in the mountains, but the number of charac- 
ters is increased. Each city also has its wonderful story to tell. For 



FOLK LORE. 



195 



instance there is Mainz, that massive, warlike city, which has presented a 
grim, stern front ever since Drusus built his castle before Christ lived. 
There is still to be seen a mass of stones, supposed to be his monument, 
and the remains of a vast Roman aqueduct. The town, with its ponder- 
ous fortifications, might remind one of how much that is Roman lies at the 
base of the German character. Gutenberg was born here also. But the 
quaint old German frau will tell you that Mainz is noted because when 
the Emperor Constantine was marching from it the Holy Cross appeared 
to him; that the city is famous, not that Charlemagne should have been 
born in it and should have built his palace of "Ingelheim" just within its 
walls, but that an angel should have visited him and given him warning 
of an attempt upon his life. The tale Is spiced with magic herbs which 
enabled the king to understand the language of birds, with contests with 
mysterious knights in dark forests and all the etceteras. Charlemagne 




SCENE ON THE RHINE. 



made the hills and valleys, opposite to the palace which he called Angel's 
Home, to glisten with vineyards, and filled immense cellars with their 
rich products ; and another story runs that from his mighty tomb in 
Aix-la-Chapelle the great king steps forth annually, when the harvest is 
at hand, and blesses the villages, the cottages and the vineyards which 
he loved so well and which sleep so peacefully on the banks of the 
Rhine. 

The tomb from which Charlemagne's gigantic ghost is said to stalk 
is in a beautiful cathedral in Aix-la-Chapelle, which is in Rhenish Prussia 
near the Belgium boundary, and at the time of the great monarch's 
death was a convenient point from which to survey his mighty dominions. 
Charlemagne's chair, his portrait, and the pictures of other German em- 
perors who were crowned here previous to the middle of the sixteenth cent- 
ury, are also on exhibition in the cathedral or the town hall. Once in 
seven years it is customary to expose to public view a collection of 



196 THE world's fair. 

relics which Charlemagne received from the patriarch of Jerusalem 
and a Mohammedan caliph. They are usually preserved in a tower at 
the west end of the church. 

THE HARTZ MOUNTAINS. 

Leaving the Rhine to creep between the high embankments of the 
Netherlands, or to break through them with its cruel vigor of the spring- 
time, we pass to another region which is redolent with gnomes and 
fairies. The Hartz mountains are not even recorded on many maps, but 
who does not know of the Brocken, upon which the witches, under the 
masterly leadership of Goethe, celebrated their annual meeting during 
Walpurgis Night. From their sides of granite, limestone and sand- 
stone are shed the waters of the Weser and the Elbe, and the Brocken, 
as the pivot of the range, has been washed into those swelling lines 
which give it the appearance of a stupendous ant-hill built up in the 
clouds, or a distant world which might, any moment, set out to roll in 
space, 

THE BROCKEN AND GOETHE. 

When Mephistopheles suggests the desirability of a broomstick to 
ascend the mountain, where a visit was to be paid to the witches, Faust 
replies : 

While fresh upon my legs, so long I naiight require 

Except this knotty staff. Besides, 

What boots it to abridge a pleasant way ? 

Along the labyrinth of these vales to creep, 

Then scale these rocks, whence, in eternal spray, 

Adown the cliffs the silvery fountains leap: 

Such is the joy that seasons paths like these ! 

Spring weaves already in the birchen trees; 

E'en the late pine-grove feels her quickening powers; 

Should she not work within these limbs of ours? 

In other words, Faust not only desired to drink in the beauties of 
the Brocken, but he could see no reason why they should not use their 
own good German legs. R.eaders of the immortal tragedy know what 
they found, and there are few of a fanciful, wonder-loving disposition who 
have not met the gnomes of the Brothers Grimm, which little misshap- 
pen workmen originated to so great an extent in the folk lore of the 
natives of the Hartz. Even these delving philologists, one of them, at 
least, among the greatest of his age, could not exclude from their literary 
life the quaint conceits and honest beliefs of the common people. 

The Brocken is ascended from the pretty mountain village of Ilsen- 



THE BROCKEN AND GOETHE. 



[97 



berg, with the black pipes of the foundries pouring forth smoke and 
fllames in defiance of the trees which cluster around. The climb is usu- 
ally made without even the staff with which Goethe was assisted and 
brings one through glades and pastures, forests of pine, over carpets of 
moss and fir cones and wild gardens of roses, forget-me-nots and purple 
heath, with moss and creepers covering the rocks which overhang the 
pathway. Black charcoal burners, both men and women, are seen 
working near masses of felled trees, and further along, it may be, there 




will be found a miniature forest of fir trees, a few inches in height, which 
in years to come will furnish their grandchildren with work. The tiny 
trees are surrounded with little fences, and as they grow will be placed 
further apart. 

Much of the course of the Brocken is determined by the windings 
of the Use, but as we approach the Blocksberg, a spot haunted by witches 
and spectres from time immemorial, the path leaves the stream and the 



190 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

scenery becomes wilder and grander. Great blocks of granite and mossy 
boulders shut out the keen air, which comes to us with a touch of relief 
when we reach a more exposed point. Of course Hans Christian Ander- 
sen has had his story about the Brocken, especially about the Blocks- 
berg, which enormous rock looks with such a secure air over the sur- 
rounding country. He says that the beautiful maiden Use fled to it with 
her bridegroom when the Deluge carried the waters of the northern seas 
to the very base of the Brocken. At the summit of this famous rock is 
an inn, and in the hostelry is a visitor's book which contains verses and 
sketches by not a few noted men and by thousands of would-be wits. 
The genial Danish poet and story-teller left his mark in it himself and 
did not disdain to carve his name on the pine trees of the mountain. 
He also drank in, with quiet enjoyment, as thousands have done before 
and since, stories about those immense granite blocks, the W;tches' Altar 
and the Devil's Pulpit. In a few simple words Andersen describes the 
summit of the Brocken : " It gives me an idea of a northern tumulus 
on a grand scale. Here stone lies piled on stone and a strange silence 
rests over the whole. Not a bird twitters in the low pines ; roundabout 
are white grave flowers growing in the high moss, and stones lie in 
masses on the sides of the mountain top. We were now on the top, but 
everything was in a mist ; it began to blow, and the wind drove the 
clouds onward over the mountain top as if they were flocks of sheep." 

In a clear day, when the clouds have condescended to float among 
the lower forests of pine like a lot of white clothes thrown down there 
to dry. the towns of Brunswick and Hanover appear as dots on the dis- 
tant plains ; but pine hills and mountains hide most of the watering 
places and mining villages of the Hartz, and a descent must therefore 
be made to see what they are like. 

THE HARTZ TOWNS. 

The Hartz, in fact, is being recognized as a delightful collection 
of charming associations and invigorating scenes. There are Goslar, 
and Clausthal, and Harzburg, making with the Brocken almost a paral- 
lelogram, but all different. In Goslar once lived German emperors and 
sat the German Diet. It was a commercial city with its guilds, and 
massive warehouses and breweries, and later a famous mining center. 
One of the imperial palaces, erected by Henry III., in the eleventh cent- 
ury, is partly in ruins and partly used as a granary and store-house. 
The streets are roughly paved, but the old houses bear upon their front- 
ages and gables, their doors and heavy timbers, carvings of vines and 



THE HARTZ TOWNS. 



(99 



flowers, mermaids and dragons, which stand out clear and quaint while 
stone and brick are crumbling. Neither must the building be large in 
order to be artistically embellished. The gables of a small dwelling house 
are as likely to be scrolled and fringed with elaborate designs as the front 
of an imposing old town hall, or an ancient royal palace transformed 
into a hotel. 

In the suburbs of the town are public gardens where patients take 

exercise, breathe _-3— __^^ 

good air, and, last of 
all, drink some kind 
of wonderful water. 
Near it is one of those 
old mines whose 
chambe rs r eac h 
grandly out and 
down, and which, 
when they were 
worked at their best, 
made Goslar great 
and famous. Within 
a few miles are ex- 
tensive fields of slate. 
Burly German offi- 
cers, dreamy meta- 
physicians and poets, 
ponderous mer- 
chants, lank students 
with knapsack and 
song, and ailing no- 
blemen and ladies, 
brush against grimy 
miners, iron-workers, 
and charcoal men and 
women coming from 
the mountains, or 
young girls in 
clumsy wooden shoes, laden with huge paniers of fire wood. Here, as 
at Harzburg and other villages in the vicinity, the artist has lingered long 
enough to notice the similarity in the outline of peasants, houses, 
children, pigs and dogs to those old-fashioned toys which have failed to 
charm few of us — those villages in wood and paint which come so nicely 




OLD GERMAN GATEWAY. 



200 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

packed and stand so squarely on the ground when we put them together. 
Even the fir trees of the Brocken are larger types of the green wooden 
trees of our childhood. They were, in fact, carved by the German 
children of the Harz mountains for other children, the world over, and 
they find their models at home, as evidently do other artists for more 
skillful work. We should call the manufacturers of these toy villages, 
the artists who turned the country into stiff wood and bright paint, 
among the most wonderful of the fairies — they have brought such floods 
of joy to the little ones from such dry material. The little forest which 
we saw fenced around as we ascended the Brocken is not much larger than 
our toy trees, but it is royal property, like the mines, and will not change 
its general form ; and when our children who are now playing with the 
toys in other lands travel as men and women to the valleys and villages 
and mountains of the Hartz they will understand the felicitous expression 
which has been applied to this region, " the toy country of Northern 
Germany." 

Though the mountains of the Hartz have fertile valleys, with 
clinging herds of fat cattle, their fairies, spirits, gnomes and mines are 
what have made them famous. Rich deposits of iron, copper, silver, 
zinc and lead have been worked for over nine hundred years, but most 
of the mines date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The 
veins of ore spread over a great area and penetrate to an unknown 
depth, for one of the mines, at least, has been worked into the earth 
for half a mile and is still productive. To reach the silver ore, on 
account of the extreme hardness of the stone, fires are built against the 
face of the vein, so as to act upon the arsenic and sulphur, and decom- 
pose the rock. 

The mines of the Hartz region, which are provincial property, 
employ between 30,000 and 35,000 persons. The mining towns are given 
over entirely to this industry, and no business is conducted in them but 
that connected with mining and metallurgy. One of them, where the 
council meets which has general charge of the mines, has a mint and a 
school of mines. 

The representative mining town of the Hartz is Clausthal, contain- 
ing the Government School of Mines and the Museum. A visit to the 
latter, with its collections of minerals, models Of machinery, and its tiny 
shafts and galleries, illustrates the geological formation of the land and 
every process required to get the ore from the ground and smelt it. 
Everything is run by water power and every rill of the region is put to 
use. 

To master the entire system the students who attend the school are 



THE HARTZ TOWNS. 20I 

obliged to work with the miners, learning the use of their tools by actual 
practice. The descent is down steep ladders for several hundred feet, 
side galleries leading out at intervals, from the small shaft. Lanterns 
flash, sparks of light fall from specks of silver ore and the sound of ham- 
mer and pick is mingled with " Gliick auf," or " Good luck to you." The 
wish may come from a woman ; for there are women miners in this region, 
as well as charcoal women and woods-women. In one of the rest- 
ing places, or caverns, of the galleries there is (or was not long ago) 
a chamber about ten feet long, hewn out of the rock, carefully 
proportioned and in the center of which is a chair or throne made 
out of rough silver ore, in memory of an English duke who once 
visited there. 

But such a tour as this, underground, gives one very little general 
idea of the workings of the mine. One flash of the lantern reveals in an 
opening several half-naked men, «some of them in pools of water, work- 
ing in the most cramped of positions ; another lights up the gloom of 
a second shaft as far as the rays will penetrate and there seems to be an 
infinity of space beyond. Echoes and shadows are dancing around in 
the most weird confusion. There is a mental conflict between the desire 
to appear unconcerned, the wish to be wholly interested and the instinct 
to feel oppressed as one creeps along through slippery passage ways ; 
and peace does not succeed this war of emotions when, in order to 
breathe the upper air, he is obliged to take his stand upon a small piece 
of wood attached to an enormous beam, and grasping an iron ring above 
him, be drawn into a narrow slit of earth, which he is assured leads to 
the regions above. 

Descending from the Brocken, and going toward the east, a mac- 
adamized road, with the not unusual accompaniments of fine carriages, 
houses and grounds, points the way to Wernigerode, the resort of many 
a wealthy merchant and nobleman and the summer residence of not a 
few who go there to enjoy the mountains and the old town which is fast 
disappearing in the new. Beyond this aristocratic place are the smoky 
valleys of a mining territory and the great caves of Riibeland. One of 
these magnificent chambers is entered through an opening in the rock, 
high above the roofs of the town, and descending by staircases and 
ladders an excursion of miles may be taken underground, the chief 
attraction being the stalactite formations whose curious shapes can be 
tortured into the resemblance of everything under the sun. From the 
caves of Riibeland to a promontory of the mountains is not far, but 
from this point the telescope brings Berlin itself into the range of vision 
and indeed much of Northern Germany. 



202 THE world's FAIR. 

MANUFACTURE OF GERMAN BEER. 

Beer is a fermented but not a distilled liquid. It is among the most 
ancient of drinks, and has been made from beans, peas, rice, wheat and 
barley. The Egyptians were manufacturing a wine from barley in the 
fifth century b. c, and that seems to have been the grain generally em- 
ployed by the Celts, Germans and Britons in the manufacture of their 
beer, which is virtually the same thing. In ale the yeast of the liquid is 
sent to the surface; in beer it falls to the bottom. Ale is the English 
drink ; beer is the German drink — all of which, and much more, the 
reader probably knows. But so much of a general nature is due an 
article which is of such wide-spread consumption and whose froth, in Ger- 
many, is almost as common as air. 

Like everything else which she undertakes to do, Germany has 
made a thorough study of beer-makin>g. Whatever may be said of its 
consumption the skill shown in its manufacture is something to be ad- 
mired, Bavaria leads in the industry. It is a state which is founded 
upon beer, for two-thirds of its revenue is derived from that source. 
The true lager beer originated in that kingdom, and, in some respects, 
is still a monopoly. Lager beer is literally " store beer," and in Bavaria 
it acquires the right to that title by being allowed to slowly ferment in 
cool cellars. The liquor which is generally sold in this country is 
"draught beer," and contains less alcohol than the Bavarian varieties, 
and most of those made in Germany. 

Much of the popularity of the German beer is due to the fact of 
the excellence of the water employed. It must contain much salt and 
lime, so as to counteract the tendency toward "decomposition of any 
animal or vegetable matter which it may hold. So that two things 
must be aimed at : the presence of these purifying and preserving 
agencies and the absence of anything liable to putrefy. The waters 
employed in the most extensive breweries contain at least sixty grains 
of earthy salts dissolved in each gallon. 

BAVARIA AND WURTEMBERG. 

As Bavaria perhaps leads the world in the manufacture and con- 
sumption of beer (per capita), so does she stand in the front rank of 
states in the province of education. The university of Munich stands 
third in importance, the polytechnic school leads them all in point of 
size and the Bavarian newspapers are able and independent. She has 
one of the most extensive picture galleries in Europe. 

In a certain sense, Bavaria stands alone among the German states. 



COLOGNE. 203', 

Catholicism has always been the dominant reliction, and until 181 2' 
Bavaria was frequently an ally of France against both Prussia and Aus- 
tria. She stood between Austria and Prussia as Belgium stood between 
Germany and France. But when French rule became distasteful, she 
joined the Germanic leagues, and during the Franco-Prussian war, to 
the surprise of the Emperor of France, she supported the King of Prus- 
sia and entered actively into the campaign. Even now, Bavaria is a 
kingdom within an empire. 

West of Bavaria i^ Wiirtemberg, one of the leading states of 
Southern Germany and its capital, Stuttgart, has a considerable book 
trade, numerous paper mills, type foundries, etc. Its old palaces, its 
town hall built in the fifteenth century, its schools and museums, its- 
manufactories of wool, cotton and scientific instruments mark it as 
another of those old German cities, flourishing materially and intellect- 
ually. A large public garden, one of the finest in the empire, and the 
King's summer palace and gardens make it a royal place for pleasure 
seekers. 

COLOGNE. 

While pursuing this subject of manufactures in rather a desultory 
fashion, mixing toy-making and mining with fairies and romance, and 
beer with education, we must rest a moment at Cologne, which is sepa- 
rated from Bavaria by only a few little provinces. Now we imagine 
that an uneasiness is working in the reader's mind, born of the fear that 
the thread-bare tale will be expanded to cover the intricacies of the 
manufacture of cologne and the glories of the gigantic Gothic cathedral. 
But it should be of more interest to learn that Cologne was once a Ro- 
man camp and afterwards a town where was born Agrippina, the daugh- 
ter of Germanicus and the mother of Nero. Upon the present site of 
Cologne she induced her husband, Claudius, to found a colony, during 
the first century of the Christian era. " The town then received the 
name of Colonia Agrippina, which it still retains in part. The founda- 
tions of the Roman walls remain and may be traced through the heart 
of the city. Some suppose that traces of the Roman descent of its in- 
habitants may be found in their features and complexion. Down to the 
time of the French revolution the leading citizens were styled patricians 
and the two burgomasters wore the consular toga and were attended by 
lictors." When the city fell into the hands of the French, during the 
revolution, it was found that one-fourth of its people were beggars, 
althougli Cologne had once been an important commercial link between 
the north and the south of Europe and the far East. This evil was par- 



FAMILY LIFE. 205 

tially corrected before the city was restored to Prussia, and since it has 
been voted a member of the railroad world some of its former prosperity 
has returned ; but the great number of churches which survive the French 
occupancy and the Roman Catholic faith which is breathed from the very 
air, carnival celebrations and all, still uphold its claim to the title of the 
Northern Rome. 

FAMILY LIFE. 

The German who has served his time in the army brings a military 
spirit to bear upon his private affairs. It is with him either order or 
obey. Army life also throws the uncultured man in contact with edu- 
cated superiors, who make their calling a stepping stone to political and 
civil honors. But whether in army, private or civil life the same dis- 
cipline is maintained, plentifully enlivened with seasons of recreation. 

Heretofore the German has been viewed as a man of the world — 
as the soldier, student, farmer, manufacturer, traveler and the miner. 
His life at home is the simplicity of his character spread out in detail. 
His greatest horror is that he shall do something which is artificial and 
the result is that he is often artificially brusque and rude. He is prone 
to eat with a knife when a fork is at hand and would serve his purpose 
better. He talks loudly and uses violent expressions, not always 
because that is his individual tendency but because he is a German, with 
the national character to uphold. For the same reason he lets his wife 
drudge at home when he could afford to make life easy for her ; it would 
not become the German to make any lot an easy one. His is a world of 
discipline and why should not hers be ? 

Though her social station may be high the woman, in order to be a, 
model German wife, must be an expert at wrangling with the butcher 
and the grocer, a frequenter of the kitchen, and a wielder of flat irons. 
The result is that she, too, is often disagreeably plain and simple. Her 
duties call for loose wrappers, not over-clean, and except she dresses for 
a promenade or a ball she thinks it affectation to strive to please by dress- 
ing in a becoming manner at home. As she grows older she becomes 
even more defiant. It would be unbecoming the simple German wife of 
a German husband to hide the bald patches of her scalp or her red, 
gaunt throat. The German woman fades at a comparatively early age ; 
she has enjoyed none of those bold exercises of sword, parallel bar, 
walking, army drill and open air life which have given her husband so 
splendid a physique. In this regard she is far behind the English and 
American woman. 

Even to the table, where most nationalities have agreed to appear 



:206 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

better than they are away from it, tbe husband, wife and children bring 
.all their boisterous ways and loud talk. In whatever costume the lady 
of the house appears, the man, especially if it be an after-breakfast meal, 
will have dressed himself in uniform. But it is not at all certain that 
the family will eat together ; that will depend greatly upon the occupa- 
tion of the man and the school hours of the children. The dinner some- 
times lasts three or four hours. Notwithstanding the family provisions 
are kept strictly under lock and key by the mistress who acts under the 
•exacting eye of her general-in-chief, there is always a bountiful supply of 
hearty food. Bread, butter, eggs, milk, coffee, vegetables, soups, meats, 
dumplings, beer and wine, all march to their graves to the tune of 
loud voices and laughter. The servants are noisy and are apt to be 
too" familiar, or abject under the treatment of the master of the house; 
but in their dress, their language and their ways they conform to the 
national standard of studied simplicity or inherited brusqueness. To do 
anything un-Germanlike would be to have the whole town laughing at 
you, as a native nurse once told a foreigner who desired to have her 
child treated according to her own notions. 

Coffee is served at four o'clock and supper between seven and nine. 
The latter is the pleasantest meal of the day, being usually a re-union. 
It is a lunch of bread and butter, meats, cheese, sardines, hard-boiled 
eggs, with tea, beer or wine — sometimes with all of them. " All the 
housewives as autumn wanes, lay in a goodly store of vegetables to last 
through the winter months, when nothing of the kind is to be pro- 
cured for love or money. Potatoes are banked up in the cellars ; cab- 
bages, carrots, turnips and onions are buried in layers of mold, whence 
your cook will extract them, uninjured by damp or frost, for the daily 
meal. Vegetables of the finer sort, such as French beans, peas, etc., 
are, as they come into season, preserved for winter use in tins, which are 
hermetically sealed by a man who comes to solder them down." All 
this hearty food, spiced and greased and vinegared, and washed down 
-with Rhine-wine and Bavarian beer, nourishes the vigorous body and 
brain of the German fighter, but it plays havoc with the woman, who 
never gets the start in health which her brother does in his younger 
years. So much is his food a part of the German that the pertinent 
■question to those who return from a ball, dinner or supper is not as to 
what was worn, but what was eaten. The common form of inquiry is, 
"What did you get ?" — a blunt, German question. 

Aside from the clubs, theatres and other amusements common to 
other people, the true Gern*ian has his own enjoyable garden. He erects 
a summer house in his yard, on some prominent spot, and Sunday after- 



FAMILY LIFE. 20/ 

noon he is sure to be found there, with his spouse and daughters, contem- 
platively smoking while his wife knits, or presides over the coffee table. 
At times the prosperous citizen will have established his summer house 
in the suburbs of the city. As the family food is usually cooked in town 
and has to be brought out in baskets, along hot dusty highways, when 
applying for a position the common query of the maid of-all-work is, 
" Have you a garden?" If you have, the bargain is off. 

In these garden scenes, during the family rambles and Sunday 
excursions, home life is seen in its most agreeable forms of simplicity. 
The big German is not abashed at being discovered hand in hand with 
his matronly wife. Though they speak harshly to their little ones, or 
rap them smartly on their backs (as they may consider dutiful), they have 
the most charming words of endearment, in the uttering of which there 
is no hypocrisy. "My little heart," "my beautiful one," "my pretty 
one," " my little love," " little mother," " sweetheart " and a score of other 
caressing terms are bandied about from parents to children, from lover 
to lover, in such a graceful, unaffected fashion as to make one forget the 
gutterals and hissings of the language. 

Wherever an elderly German woman or a couple is, there also, or 
within hailing distance, will generally be a youth and maiden, enjoying 
their betrothal period, as other lovers do when outside eyes are not upon 
them. They have become so used to affectionate demonstrations, with- 
out privacy, that this characteristic will follow them through life. On a 
Rhine steamer, on the cars, on the street, love-making and love-talking 
go on with a coolness which is startling to many. Before the mar- 
riage is arranged, the "caution " must be decided upon, which is a sum 
of money which the man must deposit as a guaranty that his wife shall 
live in a becoming style in case of his death. If foresight is shown 
for the possible widow, the probable maiden lady of high standing is 
also provided for. 

The Protestant nobles of Germany have instituted retreats for 
maidens of their standing who are thought beyond the pale of matri- 
mony. Lands have been purchased and houses built, fisheries, forests 
and farms contributing to support the institution. Each noble who has 
contributed his share toward the original investment is entitled to pre- 
sent his maiden as a member of the retreat. The inmates are uniformed 
in black silk gowns, with the sign of their order across the breast, and 
can obtain leave of absence from the superior to enter society for three 
or six months annually.. They have a standing in the community, and 
marriage is not quite out of the question when they can appear stamped 
with the badge of nobility. These retreats, or " Stifte," as they are 



208 THE world's FAIR. 

called in German, often become very wealthy and prove fortunate finan- 
cial investments. It is said that the ladies of these retreats evince a 
pride of blood which is not shown in so marked a degree in many cir- 
cles of German society. 

But despite the ceremonials of a noble and courtly circle, now and 
then, the German character, whether dissected within the walls of the 
private house or the palace at Berlin, is one of simplicity — sometimes, 
as we have ventured to say, offensively rough. The men of standing 
in Germany, from the Emperor dawn, despite their political views, have 
never seemed far away from the people because of this very trait. Her 
great scholars, poets and scientists, even her statesmen of iron purpose, 
although they may be learned, mystical, analytical and cruel, still exhibit 
to the world beneath the outer crust a certain rugged childlikeness, 
which is a refined form of that earnestness which often deteriorates into 
rudeness. 

BERLIN. 

The German life, in all its diversity and intellectual muscularity, is- 
portrayed in Berlin, a massive, square city, set down on a sandy plain 
and cut in two by a sluggish river, and further divided by broad streets, 
which stretched regularly through the city, as if made for the majestic 
tramp of the imperial army. Unterden Linden, a splendid street with a. 
double avenue of linden trees, is where the majority of visitors are taken 
to see the most of the empire's capital. Nearly opposite the great 
university is the royal palace, and directly opposite a magnificent bronze 
statue of Frederick the Great. The names of Fichte, Hegel and Schel- 
ling cling to the university, their fame going along more modestly than 
that of Frederick upon his great horse. On each side of the royal 
palace are the fine public squares called Lustgarten and Schlossplatz. 

Opposite the Lustgarten is one of the hundreds of institutes in. 
which the German people take a just pride ; it is the old museum, built 
upon a former bed of the river, the entrance being through a number of 
imposing porticoes, ornamented with statues and bronze figures. Its col- 
lections of vases and coins and its sculpture and picture galleries are 
celebrated over Europe. In the rear of the old museum is the new one 
containing antiquities of the northern nations and of Egypt, an entire 
hall decorated with paintings by pupils of Kaulbach, casts of famous 
statues and art collections of all descriptions. The Egyptian depart- 
ment is not only very complete but is unique in its arrangement, it being 
exhibited in a court which is modeled after an Egyptian temple. In the 
Linden is also the national gallery of paintings and other famous col- 




A GERMAN FRAULEIN. 

(READY FOR THE FAIR.) 



2IO 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



lections. The Royal Theatre, the Italian Opera House, the stately 
parks, and elegant pleasure-gardens both within the city and its suburbs, 
show the pleasure-loving side of the people. In one of the most charm- 
ing of the suburban parks, is a monument to the memory of Humboldt, 
who was a native of the city. The city is adorned, from one extremity 
to the other, with masterpieces of architecture and art by the famous 
Schinkel, whose genius took a remarkably wide range ; for he not only 
excelled as a historical painter and sculptor, his works being collected in 
a special museum, but he was the architect of some of the finest public 
works of Berlin. 

The capital is, preeminently, the imperial city of Germany, not only 
in the narrow but the broad sense of the word. Kings, artists, scholars 




MUSEUM AT BERLIN. 



and poets appear in their marble pallor in the parks, on public buildings 
and in palaces and private houses. There are royal libraries, royal pal- 
aces, royal theatres and streets named after the kings. On King's street 
is the Commercial Exchange of Berlin, one of the world's great centers 
of trade. It is near the postofifice, and is a square, massive building, 
presenting a grand front of pillars and groups of statuary. The churches 
of Berlin are many, but perhaps the most noteworthy is the Roman 
Catholic Hedwigskirche, situated in the rear of the Italian Opera House, 
and built in imitation of the Roman Pantheon. 

Berlin is a worthy subject for a book, but it should be added, as a 
tribute to its enterprise and the national unity of the empire, that since 
it became the capital of United Germany no city in Europe has taken 



SOME FAMOUS GERMAN CITIES. 2 11 

greater strides in every direction, and no people have evinced greater 
pride in their governmental center than have the Germans for the best 
representative of their greatness. 

SOME FAMOUS GERMAN CITIES. 

Frankfort-on-the-Main, formerly the capital of Germany, is rich in 
historic associations, as well as the center of a portion of the Rothschild 
activities. The founder of the great banking house and his children 
after him were born in Jews street, most of the old buildings of which 
have been pulled down. Goethe square contains a statue of Frankfort's 
illustrious citizen and Germany's great man. Frankfort once led the 
German cities in the publishing business, and possesses among its artis- 
tic attractions a monument in honor of the art of printing.- Schiller has 
been commemorated in marble, several times, in the squares and public 
gardens, the most noteworthy representation being the superb bust in 
Berthmann's pleasure grounds. The council house where the German 
emperors were elected, the Church of St. Bartholomew where they were 
crowned for 150 years, and that of Katharine, where the first Lutheran 
sermon was preached more than three centuries and a half ago, are places 
of interest, while the promenades and watering places around the city 
delight as well as interest. The belt of promenades and parks connect the 
old gates of the city and furnish a picturesque view of the river and distant 
mountains. They alone would make Frankfort a delightful pleasure 
resort. The picture galleries, museums and libraries, and its financial 
importance as being the scene of operations of many of the wealthiest 
Jewish houses in Europe, bring to it a great variety of nationalities. 
Business, pleasure, scholarship and art meet together most harmoniously 
in Frankfort ; of all American cities it most resembles Boston. 

Dresden, the capital of Saxony, has received many baptisms of fire, 
but is still a beautiful city. It is celebrated as one of the greatest art 
centers in Europe. The Academy of Fine Arts is near the bank of the 
Elbe River. The Japanese palace was built as a summer residence by- 
one of the kings, but is now used as a museum. It contains a gallery 
of paintings, in which all the European schools are represented by their 
greatest masters ; collections of antique sculpture, coins and pottery, a 
museum of natural history and the public library, especially com- 
plete in historical works. In the royal palace is a collection of rare and 
costly carvings, jewels and relics, gathered by the princes of Saxony. 
Michael Angelo's magic art is seen in some wonderful specimens of carv- 
ings. Dresden has few monuments, and perhaps its most noteworthy 
architectural work is the great bridge across the Elbe. 



212 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

AUSTRIA'S WORLD-FAIR CITY. 

Much of Vienna's fame as a modern city rests upon work accom- 
plished during the past century. The unsightly walls which surrounded 
the old city have been torn down and thirty-six suburbs admitted into the 
corporate territory. Within ancient Vienna, however, are the grandest 
squares and edifices, and the limits of the old city are retained by a belt 
of boulevards nearly three miles in length. The present municipal 
limits are also indicated by another belt, which is sixteen miles in length 
and follows the line of low ramparts erected during the beginning of the 
eighteenth century. The Ringstrasse, or that street which marks the 
bounds of the old city, is lined with palatial residences, as are also the 
streets which intersect it. In this locality are the opera house, archducal 
palaces, academies, museums, the imperial theatre, the military head- 
quarters and other edifices and interesting localities, which, to mention, 
would be tiresome and to describe impossible. The center of this area 
is St. Stephen's Square, which is also the geographical center of Vienna. 
Many of the leading streets converge here, and the grand St. Stephen's 
cathedral and the Episcopal palace are worthy ecclesiastical monuments 
to this stronghold of Catholicism. In the church are numerous monu- 
ments and underneath it vast catacombs. There are numerous squares, 
all worthy of notice, but perhaps the Franzensplatz is most visited by 
foreigners since it is formed by the four wings of the imperial palace. The 
outer palace square is the largest in Vienna, containing statues of Arch- 
duke Charles and Prince Eugene ; the inner square, the Franzensplatz, con- 
tains the monument to Francis I. Within the palace are not only splendid 
treasures, among other valuable curiosities the regalia worn by the Ger- 
man emperors when they were crowned, but cabinets of antiquities and 
of zoology and botany. Under royal patronage are also fine art galler- 
ies, a truly imperial library, and the world-famed University of Vienna. 

Vienna's reputation as a city of magnificence and of grand propor- 
tions, a diversified pleasure resort for all nationalities and tastes, is 
enhanced by her theatres, gardens and out-of-door resorts. An island 
in the Danube, several miles in length, called the Prater, is laid out in 
parks, avenues and promenades, and may be called the fashionable 
resort. This was the scene of the Exhibition of 1873. Besides the thea- 
tres, some of them unrivaled in Germany, and the gardens adorned with 
works of art and frequented by a greater diversity of nationalities than 
any other localities in Europe, there are most picturesque surroundings 
to be enjoyed. The imperial gardens, menagerie and summer resi- 
dence are a few miles from the city. 



OUR FAR-EAST COUSINS. 




PERHAPS OUR FOREFATHERS, TOO. 

|OURING through a narrow mountain gorge into the broad 
plains of Mesopotamia, the River Euphrates was once the 
patron of a most ancient, energetic and splendid civilization. 
With the Tigris, it is now the boundary of a prolific land of 
decay. From those plains once poured forth vast floods of 
people, and yet those left behind were the founders of glo- 
rious empires, the builders of Nineveh and Babylon. " These 
mighty capitals are now little more than unsightly mounds 
of clay and sun-dried brick, among which dirty Arabs are 
delving for the building material of modern houses. From 
near the ruins of Babylon looms up a gigantic mound, standing 
alone in the midst of a vast plain — the tower of Babel ! you recog- 
nize it at once. Other mounds of lesser note, now scattered, now 
grouped, now in the form of triangles; shafts of columns; Assyrian 
forts; rocks crowned with ancient castles; old towns filled with Roman 
and Saracenic architecture ; groves of palm trees ; clouds of scorch- 
ing sand borne by the south winds; decaying walls of gigantic canals, 
vainly appealing to Turkish " enterprise , " a tribe of- restless Arabs 
with their camels, horses, sheep and women, their crude furniture 
and all their effects, seeking fresh pasture; answering sheets of 
flame rising from the fertile river tracts and springing from the hatred 
of the harvesters who have gathered their grain and are burning all 
green forage to keep it from those same thievish Arabs; a wandering 
dervish, only interrupting his prayers to light his pipe, asks for gifts from 
the faithful, or to search for vermin, the sound of an Arab water-wheel 
in the distance; a Turkish fortress perched upon a storm-beaten mound 
inclosing the ruins of centuries; narrow roads hanging to the mountain 
sides and dropping to the plain below; gorgeous mountain tints painted 
by a bold eastern sun and flung upon the background of a soft eastern 
sky; a valley in which nestles a village where Noah is said to have planted 
fais vineyard; a dyke built by Nimrod, the mighty hunter; a griffin's 



214 THE world's FAIR. 

cave, at the mouth of which the Tigris roars and foams — such is the 
country in which rose and fell the oldest known civilization of the 
world. 

Leaving the Euphrates river we enter the Syrian desert, and mid- 
way between the great river and the Mediterranean sea, in a small oasis, 
find the famed ruins of Palmyra; the " Tadmor in the Desert." Across 
to Baalbek — grand ruins again ! The omnipresent Arab is there also, 
as at Palmyra, sheltered by his crazy hut and raising his corn and olives 
among the ruins. Striking south, we are still oppressed by ruins — some 
thirty of them — before we skirt the coast of the Dead Sea, and cross a 
desert tract of country and the Suez canal into the land of pyramids. 
What more natural than that we should journey from the land of ancient 
Assyria to the land of Egypt; for we are following in the footsteps of 
the races and families of men, and the ancient Egyptians are supposed 
to have preceded us in that little trip, overland, by some thousands of 
years. 

EGYPT. 

Straight toward the Mediterranean sea a black line shoots across 
the desert waste, binding together a chain of lakes and lagoons, and 
marking the threshold to the land of shadows and sunshine. Another 
line winds toward Cairo, and still another seems to shoot more directly 
and with more momentum toward th^t great emporium to which our 
journey lies. In the ship canal constructed for the commerce of the 
world, and in the fresh-water canal built for the convenience of the 
isthmus inhabitants, are repeated the performances of the ancient 
Egyptians and Persians, accomplished before the wild Scythians ever 
dreamed of crossing the Bosphorus and laying the foundation of the 
most advanced of European civilization. Traces of that first canal are 
found deep in the desert sand of the isthmus country, where Egypt's 
frontier was threatened by those same savage tribes who now appear as 
Frenchmen, as Englishmen, as Germans, as representatives of nations 
which have sprung from the decay of the old. Here were her fortresses 
and from the banks of the Nile came fresh water, provisions and rein- 
forcements, if necessary, to the defenders of the civilization of those 
days ; and Persia had her ship canal from sea to sea ; but it was left to 
these days to shoot the railroad across the desert into the very haunts 
of antiquity, into the very shadows of the Pyramids. But we 
pass them by, and the splendid mosques .of Cairo, and the tombs 
of its rulers, and the beautiful villas in the suburbs, and ancient 




AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE. 
215 



2l6 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



glory, and present attempts at magnificence, and go into the 
" by-ways and hedges " to get acquainted with the people. We will 
have nothing to do with the Turk, for he is not a native ; although he 
has imposed many of his customs among the Egyptians. We shall 
avoid the Italians, French, English, Armenians and other nationalities 
who live in the "Frank" quarter of Cairo and Alexandria, and who 




are traveling up and down the Nile country, viewing curiosities, traffic- 
ing in precious stones, or awaiting the return of the pilgrims from Mecca 
laden with the wealth of the far East , who are the agents of commer- 
cial houses in their native lands, or the principals themselves in this 
central station of the overland route to India. For the present we 



EGYPT. 



217 



have no interest in these people, except in so far as they have relations 
to a very intelligent, courteous, industrious and humble class of the 
Egyptians, the Copts. They number about one-fifteenth of the entire 
population of the country, and are the sole remnant of the ancient 
Egyptians. In Lower Egypt they are of a yellowish tinge, which shades 
into a dark brown further south. The Copts inhabit small sections of 
the larger cities, while in Upper Egypt they have settled whole towns 
and villages. What is their business ? They are clerks and account- 
ants in government and mercantile offices ; they are the Christian priests 
of Egypt, cheerful, humane and hospitable, with their convents and 
monasteries scattered along the Nile. They are the scribes, priests and 
scholars of Egypt, and an ink-horn at the girdle (for they wear the 
turban and flowing robe) is a masculine badge, as is the cross, tattooed 
upon the hand of the Copt woman, her mark of honor. The Coptic 
priesthood have considerably lapsed from the rigor of their religious 
observances as primitive Christians, although in the regular monasteries 
their discipline is still severe. The dress is a simple skirt of coarse 
woolen fabric. Only on feast days are small quantities of animal food 
allowed, the ordinary food being black bread and lentils. The convents, 
when not situated on some inaccessible rock, are surrounded by a high 
and strong wall which has only a single iron door, and in some cases is 
wholly without opening, the means of entrance being a pulley from the 
top. 

The religious rites of the Copt are many and severe, the services 
lasting many hours at a time. Seven times daily he repeats his Pixter 
Noster, and begs for Divine mercy forty-one. The churches are deco- 
rated with ornaments of ostrich eggs and divided into four compart- 
ments. Furthest from the doorway is the chancel, or sanctuary, where 
the eucharist is celebrated, and which is hidden behind a high screen. 
Next is the room where the priests interpret in Arabic the Coptic 
service to the singers, the leading men of the congregation and to 
strangers. In the third compartment are the men of the congregation, 
moving round in their bare feet to pray before the pictures of the saints, 
or leaning upon long crutches for support. The veiled women occupy 
the fourth room, which is dimly lighted, and usually situated in the 
extreme rear of the church. 

The domestic life of the Copts is very similar to that of the Arabs 
who have settled along the Nile, They have adopted also many of the 
Moslem customs, such as the veiling of the faces of many of their 
women. Some Coptic women are allowed to go out from time to time 
and even to visit and shop pretty freely. Others, again, are as closely 



2l8 THE world's FAIR. 

secluded as if they were actual denizens of a harem. Nearly all keep 
black female slaves instead of hiring servants. 

There are some peculiarities in the Coptic marriage ceremony^ 




EGYPTIAN ORNAMENTS. 



however. The bride, unlike the Moslem, has no canopy to cover her 
in the procession to the bridegroom's house. At the preliminary feast. 



THE NILE AND EGYPT,- 2IQ 

pigeons are released from pies and fly around the room shaking bells 
attached to their feet. After the marriage ceremony, the priests set on 
the foreheads of the new couple thin gilt diadems. In entering her 
husband's house, the bride must step over the blood of a newly killed 
lamb. The whole pageant, after lasting eight days, ends with a grand 
feast at the bridegroom's house. This is the custom, of course, among 
the well-to-do classes, but certainly would not prevail in the hut of a 
poor chicken hatcher or fellah (farmer). But we shall soon be among 
these poor swarthy sons of the Nile and it will beeome evident that they 
could not be the originators of pageants and feasts of superlative 
grandeur. 

THE NILE AND EGYPT. 

It is impossible for the humblest Egyptian to omit the Nile as an 
element in his life ; for in her bosom lie life and death. Food, drink 
and clothing spring from her brooding over the soil. " May Allah bless 
thee as he blessed the course of the Nile ! " exclaims the poor woman 
on its banks to the traveler. " Mohammed would not have gone to 
Paradise had he drunk of the Nile," says an Arabian proverb. She 
seems a living, moving thing — either a benefactor or a monster ; her 
benefactions, generally, make her the power for good in Egypt and an 
all-pervading influence of blessedness. A few days in the spring and 
fall she rests from her labors. Then the tributaries from the mountains 
and table-lands of Abyssinia and from the recesses of Central Africa 
commence to trickle into her mighty channel and the great event, older 
than the pyramids and yet ever momentous, is soon recorded in Cairo. 
Across a branch of the river, near the metropolis, is a small island, in 
which is sunk a square wall or chamber. In the center of this chamber 
is a graduated pillar divided into cubits of about twenty-two inches each. 
Sometime in June the water commences to rise in the pillar, or nilo- 
meter, and Egyptian life again hangs upon the pleasure of old mother 
Nile. Every morning four official criers proclaim throughout Cairo the 
height to which the water has risen. When the sixteenth cubit is 
reached, it is quite certain that there will be a harvest and the Sultan's 
land tax is levied — what portion of it is collected from the shrewd natives 
is another thing. While the water line is creeping between the six- 
teenth and the eighteenth cubits, Cairo and Egypt are breathless with 
interest and anxiety. A straggling street runs from the city down to 
Fostat, its suburb and port. From Fostat a canal of irrigation runs 
through Cairo and is continued some miles beyond. It is believed to 



THE world's fair. 



form part of an ancient canal, traces of which we found in the desert 
sands toward Suez. As the water line in the nilometer rises toward the 
eighteenth cubit, this becomes a locality of supreme interest. The talk 
even among the counting houses and government offices ; among the 
Europeans with their Coptic clerks ; in the public gardens haunted by- 
French and German strollers ; in the bazaars filled with the goods and 
nationalities of the East ; around the mosques in the city, and the cof- 
fee booths and fairs in the suburbs ; among the serpent charmers and 
storytellers — the talk of Cairo itself is plentifully interspersed with refer- 







ences to the probable outcome of the rise. Famine has already been 
averted, and the Sultan has his tax — on paper. It now remains to be 
seen whether the Nile will come up to the standard of abundance which 
is marked on the fascinating nilometer by the eighteenth cubit, and 
which determines whether the pacha shall cut the banks which confine 
the waters and lead it into this grand canal, and thence into six thousand 
other artificial channels and reservoirs scattered throughout the region. 
Millions of anxious fellaheen and Copts, and wandering bands of Bedou- 



THE NILE AND EGYPT. 



ins and gypsies, are at the same time casting anxious eyes upon the 
broad, swelling bosom of the Nile, or, remembering her as generally 
kind, already see her muddy waters depositing their magic loam upon 
the parched land, and the fruits and grains of the world springing into 
green life. Bounty or famine depends upon what has been going on in 
the far-away regions of Central Africa and the mountains of Abyssinia. 

Nature has been good, and the rains have fallen which bring the 
waters of the Nile up to the eighteenth cubit of the nilometer. The 
command is given by the authorities of Cairo. The pacha, attended by 
his grandees, cuts the confining mounds, and another harvest and season 
of plenty is assured. All classes now flock to the river side and, it may 
be, the whole night is spent in festivity. Like scenes of jubilee occur 
for hundreds of miles along the banks of the god-like river. Between 
September 20 and 30 the river is at its greatest height, remains stationary 
for about fifteen days and then usually commences to fall. Should the 
waters rise above twenty-four feet then the river ceases to be a " good 
Nile," and woe be to the little villages which lie in the level strip along 
her banks should she go far above that point. The whole valley of the 
Nile is now a vast lake, and as the inundated country at length appears 
it is seen to be covered with a layer of rich loam, averaging not more 
than one-twentieth of an inch. The strip fertilized is only two or three 
miles in breadth, but the soil, thus annually replenished, has filled the 
granaries of eastern and western kingdoms, and as long as the Nile does 
her duty, cannot be impoverished. When the waters recede, vegetation 
springs up, crisp and green. The beautiful date palms, which are so 
sympathetic, look brighter and more martial as they rise from the river 
side or protectingly group themselves around little hamlets or villages. 
The sturdy peasant, or fellah, comes from his mud hut and casts his 
wheat and barley upon the loam. Later, he drives his sheep, goats and 
oxen upon the "sown" grain to trample it in. In some places plough- 
ing is thought necessary, but is usually dispensed with. Beans, peas, 
lentils, clover, flax, lettuce, hemp, tobacco and water-melons go through 
with much the same process, and yet the fellah confidently expects, from 
past experience, to harvest good crops within three or four months. In 
summer, chiefly by artificial irrigation, maize, onions, sugar cane, cotton, 
coffee, indigo and madder are brought from the bountiful soil, and tem- 
perate and tropical fruits vie with one another in lusciousness. 

April, the great harvest month, sees the fields of Egypt white with 
barley and golden with wheat. Later appear the tiny green oranges, 
which do not mature for six months. Then the corn, which crackles 
with dryness as it is heaped upon the camels, is carried off to be 




A BEDOUIN CHIE: 



THE FELLAHEEN. 223 

threshed. Seated in his wooden chair the peasant drives his rude cart 
round and round over the grain. Some of the wealthy land owners have 
introduced modern threshing machines, but this primitive object is still 
as familiar a sight as the poor fellah who has abandoned his desert for 
the garden spots of Egypt. His wants are few, however, — " a draught 
of Nile water, a handful of lentils, or a piece of bread made like a pan- 
cake and tough as wash-leather " — and, since fuel costs nothing, he gets 
along very well. He has also various crude devices for irrigating his 
land. A large wheel may be run out into the river and, with its hollow 
paddles, turned by the current. The water is thus caught up and 
emptied into a trench or tank on the bank. Or our Egyptian farmer 
may call the creaking "sakieh" into service — a series of cogwheels 
brought to bear upon an endless string of leathern vessels which empty 
their contents into a pool. Over the wheels is a thatched roof, and 
under the roof camels or buffaloes are plodding around a beaten path. 

Thus is revealed the motive power. From the pool the water is car- 
ried off on its refreshing errand by a wooden shaft. Ruder, but more 
common than these quite-mechanical contrivances is an elevating 
machine consisting of a long pole working on a pivot, a lump of clay or a 
stone at one end and a bucket at the other, the whole arrangement being 
fastened to a simple framework of logs. Thousands of these "re-formed" 
Arabs — naked or half-naked men, women and children — virtually spend 
their lives before their "shadoof" in dipping water from the Nile to irri- 
gate the fields. The water which is thus poured into trenches on the 
bank runs into small channels or ridges of earth which divide the land 
into squares. The cultivator uses his feet to regulate the flow of water 
to each part. By a dexterous movement of his toes, he forms a tiny 
embankment in one of the trenches, or removes the obstruction, or makes 
an aperture in one of the ridges, or closes it up again, as the condition of 
the crop requires. After all his labor when the grain is about ready to 
be harvested the vast flocks of geese, wild duck, hawks, pigeons, and 
cranes which darken the sky, may threaten a complete destruction of 
the crop. At these times, instead of scarecrows, the fellaheen place 
small stands or platforms in the fields, from which young boys armed 
with slings do wonderful execution. 

THE FELLAHEEN. 

Next to the birds, the greatest enemies of the fellaheen are the tax 
, collectors, who do not hesitate to vigorously apply the stick when they 
find an unusually stubborn subject; and after the application of such 



224 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



forcible arguments, if he still refuses to disgorge the coin which is clearly 
due the Sultan, as proven by the nilometer's record, his wife and his 
neighbors exalt him as a hero and a patriot. Their many tricks to evade 
the dues, which trickery they consider one of the paramount duties of 
life, are illustrative of their many-sided characters. Some years ago the 
tax upon country produce brought into cities was so increased as to be 
really a burden upon our rural friends. At the station where two coun- 
try roads meet, a poor fellah would be seen dancing about "hopping 
mad," because he had been forced to pay more than he expected, or had 
been caught at some of his evasive tricks. But after swearing and lament- 
ing in his native tongue, he would re-load his ass, throw off all his 
burdens of spirit and proceed with as unruffled a countenance as though 
every tax fiend in Egypt had started for Constantinople. Occasionally^ 
however, they do escape the sharp-eyed officials, though this is not the 
case in the following instance. A funeral procession enters the city by 
the chief country road, the chanting mollahs (religious doctors) walking 
behind, accompanied by men carrying the coffin with a red shawl over it, 
as is the usual custom. But the official scents something in the wind 
which is not a badly preserved corpse, and orders a halt and an investiga- 
tion. The coffin, which in the East is only covered with a pall, is found 
to be filled with cheese ! If the cheese had been a corpse it would have 
entered the city free of duty. Neither are the fellaheen always honest in. 
their dealings with private parties. A traveler tells the story that he 
once observed a large heap of little clay balls on the banks of the Nile 
which, evidently, were not formed by nature. He asked a fellah who 
stood near what they were for, as there were two or three such heaps. 
"Oh," he coolly replied, "they are for mixing with corn. Many boats 
laden with corn stop here." A boatman added that the village was 
famous for a peculiar kind of clay, of a corn color, but weighing heavier 
than the grain. 

As a rule, however, the fellaheen, who comprise four-fifths of the 
Egyptian population, are honest, lazy, patient, merry and domestic. 
They are the brawn of Egypt and cling jealously to her most ancient 
customs, strenuously opposing the introduction of implements of modern 
invention even when the attempt is made by their Turkish masters. 
The men average five feet eight inches in height, and have broad chests, 
muscular limbs and generally black, piercing eyes, straight thick noses, 
large but well-formed mouths, full lips, beautiful teeth and fine, oval faces. 
Their dress rarely consists of more than a shirt, leaving bare the arms, 
legs and breast. The distinctive garb of the fellaha, or peasant'swife, is 
the dark-blue cotton and black muslin veil. In the towns many wear 



THEIR WIVES. 225 

prints ot various colors for trousers, and for the short waistcoat without 
sleeves, which is worn in winter as an additional garment. The favorite 
hues are orange, pink and yellow, or magenta crimson. The older 
women, even among quite poor people, frequently dye their grey locks 
a tawny orange color. When we speak of the "older women '' we mean 
those far this side of thirty. From twelve — the usual age of marriage — • 
to eighteen or nineteen nearly all the women are splendidly formed 
and many of them are real beauties, but after that they rapidly wither.. 

THEIR WIVES. 

Having Introduced the fellah and spoken of his occupation and dis- 
position, it is no more than just that we should do the same for his wife. 
While he is abroad tending his cattle or sheep, looking after his crops, 
selling fodder, fruit, milk or vegetables, or looking after the irrigation of 
his land, we shall enter his home, meet his wife and family, and see how 
and where they live. 

The houses of the fellaheen are all of the same general type, the 
wealthier of them, of course, living in a large mud "mansion" instead 
of occupying one about four feet In height. The well-to-do may have 
carpets and mattresses, little coffee cups and some brass cooking vessels 
instead of a sleeping mat, a water jug and a few rude kitchen utensils ; 
and their daily bill of fare may include more items than coarse bread and 
onions, cheese, dates, beans and rice. In some of the houses of the 
more pretentious peasants there is a separate apartment, called " hareem,'" 
for the women ; but It is usually dirty and disorderly and a pitiful par- 
ody upon the magnificence of its Moslem prototype. The wife of the 
rich fellah displays gold ornaments, a brocaded silk vest, a black muslin 
•veil and, on special occasions, trousers; the poor fellaha has her silver 
bracelets and her dark cotton garments, often thin and ragged. 

As soon as It Is light the poor woman gets up from her mat, spread 
in the low one-room hut, and shakes herself ; or, if the weather is hot, 
she has been sleeping outside, with her family. Having thus completed 
her toilet, she and her husband and children gather round a small earthen 
dish containing boiled beans and oil, pickles or chopped herbs, green 
onions or carrots. Possibly the family do not go to all this trouble, but 
each takes what pleases him, when he likes, the substantial part of the 
food being a coarse kind of bread in which Is mixed some most bitter 
seeds which seem to Immensely tickle the palate of the average Egyp- 
tian. The father now, in all probability, goes to his work, and the 
mother, if she has none to do, wanders away to gossip with the neigh.- 



THEIR WIVES. 



227 



bors, leaving the children to roll in the dust or otherwise shift for them- 
selves. If she has no neighbors and lives in the country, she may go off 
with her husband and the children to assist him in drawing water to irri- 
gate their land. If it is baking day, or she has some other simple 
household duty to perform, she deposits her infant (in appearance a heap 
of dirty rags) upon the first spot which strikes herj 
eyes, when the idea comes to her. It may be on I 
a heap of rubbish, with the sun beating down 
upon it or the flies swarming over it. If she is a 
country fellaha working with her husband, the 
infant may go down in the mud. Should she be 
eating an onion, or a pickle, or a raw carrot, and 
the baby cries — and has teeth — she will, as likely 
as not, fill its little mouth with whatever she is 
enjoying. But bread-making day has really arrived, 
and approaching the windowless mud-hut, with 
its wooden door and huge wooden key, we find 
that the woman has brought the strength of the 
whole family to bear upon her task. Perhaps the 
smaller children and an old grandmother are pick- 
ing and cleaning the corn, the older boys or the 
father carrying it off to be ground and bringing 
tack the flour, A grown daughter or a sister is 
sifting the flour and with the fellaha's assistance 
mixing the leaven, working up the dough and shap- 
ing it into round cakes. These are then baked in 
the mud oven of the hut, or, if the fellaha lives in 
a village, the batch may be taken to the public 
oven. 

When evening comes a pretense is usually 
made to unite the family. They sit in a circle, often 
on the ground — mother, father, children, sister 
and grandmother — and dip their cakes of bread 
into a vegetable mess before them, contained in a 
coarse earthen pan. They eat in comparative 
silence, often, and when each is satisfied he gets Egyptian vase 

up and goes away. Sometimes the man eats alone, or with his sons ; and 
the women finish the bowl. But this practice obtains only amono- those 
upon whom the Moslem customs have a strong hold. If the fellah fam- 
ily, in whose house we visit, is above the average in respectability, after 
supper is finished, wife, daughter or slave brings in a basin and pours water 




EGYPTIAN SCHOOLS. 



229 



over the hands. Whether the family sleep indoors or out, depends, 
principally, upon the season of the year. But let them sleep, for the 
present, wherever they are and whoever they are — whether the Mos- 
lem who has gone through with his evening devotions on a carpet 
spread on the ground, or the Coptic Christian who has said his prayers 
and counted his beads forty and one times during the day. 

EGYPTIAN SCHOOLS. 

In many of the villages along the Nile, Moslem and Copt dwell in 
comparative peace, the men working together in the fields and their 
children attending the same school, when one has been established in a 
rural district by some European missionary. The boys, however, far 

outnumber the girls, from the fact that 
maidens are more useful at home than their 
brothers ; that they are called away from 
school before they have made much prog- 
ress, to become wives, and that Moslem 
Egyptians are generally imbued with the 
Turkish indifference to female educa- 
tion and advancement. The little girls 
attend in loose frocks called "gellebeehs," 
I with muslin or gauze veils, slippers in 
winter, and in summer wooden clogs 
which are kicked off when they seat them- 
selves. In the native schools little is 
taught besides the Koran and the merest 
elements of arithmetic. Though the 
school-master may be blind, if he can 
repeat the Moslem bible without stum- 
bling, the permanency of his position is 
assured. The school is generally attached 
to the village mosque, which is built of mud with a white-washed spire. 
Its locality can be ascertained beyond a doubt by the tremendous hub- 
bub which always proceeds from a Moslem school ; for all those who are 
learning to read are sitting upon the ground with the school-master, vig- 
orously rocking their bodies back and forth, and reciting their lessons 
from their wooden tablets and at the top of their voices. Before the 
older pupils, on little desks made of palm sticks, are copies of the Koran 
or some of its thirty sections. They also are going through with the 
same form of gymnastics, which is thought to be an aid to the memory. 




AN EGYPTIAN CHAIR. 



230 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

In the small towns and villages the masters of the schools are nearly 
as ignorant as the pupils, but manage by their native shrewdness to hide 
their lack of learning. Naturally the " salary " is a mere nothing But 
in Cairo, where the course of instruction is somewhat broader, the 
remuneration to the school-master is correspondingly greater ; from the 
parent of each pupil there is sent to him, every Thursday, what would 
be equivalent to three cents. The master of a school attached to a 
mosque or public building, in Cairo, also receives yearly apiece of white 
muslin for a turban, a piece of linen and a pair of shoes. Each 
boy receives, at the same time, a linen skull cap, eight or nine yards 
of cotton cloth, half a, piece of linen, a pair of shoes, and in some 
cases from three to six cents. These presents are supplied by funds 
bequeathed to the school. Although several Sultans of enlightened 
views have attempted to reform the cause of education in Egypt, they 
have found it a graceless task, the prejudice and ignorance of the bulk 
of the population being as firmly set against any innovation here as they 
are in the field of agriculture. So the boy continues to shout his les- 
sons, and the poor little maiden is often not allowed to know much of 
her Koran, for, when a mere child, she is hurried away from home to 
wed somebody whom, perchance, she has never seen. In a few short 
years, when she begins to fade, she fails to understand the cause of the 
great rejoicing which then took place ; or of the bright-hued procession 
.which followed her red silk canopy, under which she herself walked cov- 
ered from head to foot with a large red shawl ; or why discordant bands 
of music and sweetly tinkling singers should do their best to celebrate 
the event, as if her world did not know that marriage was the stepping- 
stone to dismal, neglected old age. 

GLIDING UP THE NILE. 

In this general view of the customs, dispositions and daily life of the 
Copts and fellaheen, who really are the two components of the modern 
Egyptians, we have failed to even touch upon salient points, which 
to omit, would leave the picture of the Land of the Nile and 
its people incomplete and colorless. We have got acquainted with 
some of the people, so that they do not seem like strangers to us, and 
now must just skim the surface of their mysterious country — another 
land of decay — stopping at a point or two which is typical of their 
modern institutions. As you pass through the delta of the Nile, the 
flocks of pelican, wild duck and other fowl make the waters hum and 
you might imagine, if it were not for that narrow strip of desert, that you 



GLIDING UP THE NILE. 231 

had by mistake wandered into the State of Louisiana. The tremendous 
fields of grain which, in season, would be stretching down to the river's 
edge for three miles on either hand, would also soon dispel the illusion 
caused by the presence of these myriads of water fowl. Alexandria, 
a strange combination of decay and life, being left behind, the fertile 
strip of country grows quite narrow as Cairo comes into view — Cairo, 
with its dark and gloomy streets, its great mosques and its seven miles 
of area which is the focal point of three distinct civilizations. The 
slaves of Africa, the spices and fabrics of the East and the gold of 
Europe are all cast into Cairo, and a tremendous jumble of English- 
men and Germans, French and Americans, Arabs, Copts, Armenians, 
camels, asses, dogs, funeral and marriage processions, bazaars, veiled 
women, Turks, caravans and noise is the result. Opposite to Cairo, and 
extending along a slope to the river, are the sixty pyramids ; the ravages 
of time, and the depredations of Arab builders for ages, having given 
some of them a somewhat irregular outline as they stand up against the 
clear sky in their gloomy grandeur. 

The mountains now approach nearer to the river than they did in 
Lower Egypt, and over the desert a picturesque group of Bedouins are 
wandering. They have been brought into subjection by rigorous 
governmental treatment, but still proudly cling to their nomadic ways 
notwithstanding their race has been abandoned by so many tribes who 
have settled down into the drudgery of partial civilization. They are 
therefore harmless to travelers. They are dressed in clothes of camel's 
hair, with girdles of leather, and their wives wear the dark cotton robe of 
the fellaha, with an additional veil of crimson or white crape. Entering 
the river's fertile strip the Arab band is seen to approach a cluster of 
mud huts, under a grove of palms, and connected with a farm. 
They talk with the bailiff in charge of the land and the fellaheen, 
and quickly pitch their tents beside the hut. They have returned 
to watch his crops and cattle, for they have been found trust- 
worthy before, although it is impossible to foretell when their 
thieving propensities will seize upon them. Wandering, like the 
Arab, through the pyramid section, we find that an opportunity is 
given them to rob us in genteel civilized fashion. The sheik of a tribe 
has founded his village at the foot of one of the pyramids and compla- 
cently levies his tribute upon curiosity seekers, who, under the hallucina- 
tion that they will be "conducted" are rushed up its sides at railroad 
speed, over steps of three or four feet in height, by his impetuous and 
"lungless" Arabs. Still skirting along the Nile, or through Egypt, 
with its mid-days of white heat, its purple mountain shadows, its cold 




A YOUTH OF UPPER EGYPT. 



GLIDING UP THE NILE. 233 

twilights and mellow " after-glows," its deserts and gardens, its hills 
pierced with pictured tombs, its bee boats stoppmg wherever the flowers 
bloom, its boatmen's chants heard with choruses and clappings of hands, 
its boats built as they were in the days of the Pharaohs with their trian- 
gular sails, its limestone pyramids and sandstone temples — while 
wonderful nature and human life cast themselves and their moods over 
this country of Egyptian, Grecian and Roman ruins — "our special artist" 
finds — what ? Another specimen village, and the Bedouins have actually 
so far ventured into the confines of civilization as to settle in it. The 
village, which is a short distance from the beach, is thickly sprinkled 
with palms. A plot near by is also covered with gum trees. The 
houses are of the vulgar mud, but the large herd of cattle in the vicinity 
and the rich ornaments worn by the women, who are grouped near the 
river bank, are sufficient evidences that the Bedouins have gained by 
changing their ways of living. If you had been inclined to visit the 
sheik of the village he would, perhaps, have spread a Persian carpet for 
you under the shade of one of these gum trees, and, in the presence 
of his chief men, would politely have inquired as to your goings and 
comings. His house is also open to you. But, it may be, you had 
better rest content with seeing the outside of the village, especially it 
you have any valuables which you wish to retain. 

Let us now pass Siout, from which the Nubian caravans are departing, 
and to which some of our fellah acquaintances have journeyed to lay mat- 
ters before the governor of Central Egypt which are too momentous to 
be settled by any village authority. Let us pass the Christian town of 
Ekhmin, with its Coptic convent and its great ruins, and even the broad 
plain covered with the remains of fallen Thebes, her dark mountain 
tombs in the back-ground. All these wonders, of which you may read 
in hundreds of books and see them stand forth from thousands of bold 
engravings, are lightly skimmed over, only to enter a modest village 
beyond and see what is going on there. In Siout the governor may 
dispense justice as he pleases for all the Interest we take in his grand 
ways — but here is a village court-house ! It would correspond to our 
county court, several villages and towns bringing their legal affairs to it, 
and is crowded with handsome, sturdy peasants. At the door stand the 
keepers — two half-naked lads with long sticks. The room is small and 
approached by a narrow, dirty staircase. Many of the windows are 
broken, the panes being stuffed with rags or a ragged curtain to keep 
out the sun. At a number of inky, crazy-looking wooden desks in front, 
sit several scribes writing ; while on a ragged divan, with soiled cushions, 
sit a dozen more, each with paper or inkhorn of brass in his girdle orhia 



234 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

hand. Each head scribe chants out the contents of his paper, in a 
sonorous, but not very loud tone of voice, to his assistant, who copies it. 
The dinner hour having arrived, does the court adjourn ? That would 
hardly accord with the dignity of the Turkish judge. A lad brings into 
the court-room a tray, upon which are vegetables, bread, cheese and a 
watermelon ; whereupon the Court, with two of his assistants, calmly 
proceed to dip their bits of bread in the vegetable dishes and go through 
the whole course. Then, leisurely wiping their hands, they resume, 
work. 

In the village, outside of the sleepy court-room, a lively scene is 
found in the shape of the weekly market. We see no booths, but each 
seller spreads his wares before him on little mats , cloth, wool, tobacco, 
butter, salt, curds, handkerchiefs, sygar, coffee, thread; etc., are displayed 
for sale. Veiled women, decorated according to their condition with 
colored glass or white shells, silver bracelets, golden coins or antique 
jewels, chat, examine and sometimes buy. Gentle Egyptian cattle wander 
about unmolested. The fellaha even appears as a ' sales-lady " beside 
her pile of egg-plants or gourds, and shrilly proclaims their virtues, A 
Bedouin chief even appears upon his strong horse, his saddle furnished 
with cases of pistols. Elderly peasants, in turbans of white or crimson, 
sit in sunny spots, smoking and chatting over their bargains. All this 
animation and enjoyment and indolence are fondled by a bright Egyp- 
tian sun. These fairs are certainly a great institution of Egyptian 
peasant and village life. 

But adieu to the fair and to the village with its mud huts, some 
standing alone and some clustering around a common court-yard, some 
filled with vermin and others with chickens in all stages of artificial 
development ; to clerical, priestly Copt, to brawny, mercurial fellah, and 
to picturesque, thievish Bedouin. We are traveling into Upper Egypt, 
where the valley of the Nile so contracts that the sandstone rocks over- 
hang the water. From these rugged cliffs were quarried the huge stones 
which went into the building of the ruined monuments and temples of 
Upper Egypt and Nubia. Here is the home of the Copt and his vihages 
are scattered all along the rocky banks, his convents often crowning a 
precipitous height or the ruins of some imposing structure. He and his 
priest chose these dreary dwelling places when their ways of living were 
more ascetic than they now are ; when the early Christians hid themselves 
in caves both from choice and from necessity ; but having once planted 
their feet in this rocky gorge the ties of kindred and the bonds of poverty 
have kept them there. With the roar of the cataracts in our ears we 
say good-bye to the land in which was born the tale of Atlantis. 





THE SYRIANS. 

HEN Greece was young and Rome was not born, Syria 
was a wealthy land, her coast cities being centers of a vast 
commerce and civilization. Tyre and the Phoenicians include 
her greatest features. Berytus, or Beyrout, was among her 
famous ports ; and although Sidon and Tyre have disappeared, 
and her ancient prominence has been dimmed by the ruth- 
less hands of many conquerors, the city bids fair to rise tO' 
eminence now that the Suez Canal is drawing the trade of 
two hemispheres through the Mediterranean Sea and the 
Persian Gulf. Nineveh and Babylon are fallen, but the 
Tigris, the Euphrates and the Jordan remain as" possible arteries of 
trade, while all around is the country which the Turks say is " the 
odor of Paradise," the Hebrews, "a garden planted by God for the first 
man," and the Arabs, a land "where the mountains bear winter on their 
heads, autumn on their shoulders, spring in their bosoms, while summer 
is ever sleeping at their feet." 

Beyrout is the natural commercial port of Syria and was a great city 
of the Roman emperors. It was called the Nurse of the Law, for the 
Roman jurisprudence was ably taught in its schools. Portions of beau- 
tiful pavements and columns are still seen in its gardens and on the sea 
shore. It was destroyed in the Roman wars and rebuilt by Augustus, 
who still considered it a gem of his empire. It was from Beyrout, also, 
that the virgin was sent to the dragon, whom St. George slew about ten. 
minutes' walk from the city. Out in the sea is Cyprus where the lovely 
goddess rose from the ocean. Spots of historic interest, better authenti- 
cated, are grouped all around. Tyre and Acre are on the coast. Opposite 
is Carmel, and a few hours away Nazareth, Mount Tabor and Genes- 
areth. The Druse and Maronite villages cover the mountains for many 
miles east and north of it. Twelve hours distant is Damascus, and 
Baalbek is forty miles away. 

The modern city is built upon the slope of a hill which overlooks 
the sea, having as a background the bold peaks of Mount Lebanon. 
Mulberry gardens, orange and citron groves, palms, mosques, light flat- 



236 



THE world's fair. 



roofed houses painted in lively colors, terraces filled with flowers, blend 
into a charming picture. Its bazars are filled with goods of the East and 
the West, and Armenian, Druse, Maronite, Turk, Greek and Arab are 
all there or strolling along their favorite sea-shore walk. Besides being 
a commercial point of no mean standing the city is becoming quite a 
resort for tourists and invalids. Its citizens are wide-awake, metropoli- 
tan and always picturesque. The accompanying cut gives a good idea 
of their average appearance. 

The plain of Beyrout stretches out to the east, covered with every 
variety of foliage — the orange, date, fig, pine, — and sweet with 
hyacinths and gillyflowers; and still beyond it is Mount Lebanon, cut 
up into deep ravines and charming valleys, 
the particular home of those mysterious peo- 
ple the Druses and Maronites. One of 
their mixed villages called Beit-Miry is a 
summer resort for many of the Europeans of 
Beyrout. Other villages, more distant, are 
frequently visited by tourists ; but those 
occupied by the Druses alone are not so 
often entered. 

THE DRUSES. 

In the northern and central portions of 
Syria are the Druses, who are supposed to 
be a conglomeration of Kurds, Persians and 
Arabians. They hold exclusive possession 
of about 120 villages and share 200 more 
with the Maronites. Among the mountains 
of the Lebanon a religion slowly grew, which, in the eleventh century, 
was personified in a caliph of Egypt, who proclaimed at Cairo that the 
spirit of God was incarnate in him. The new faith was not well 
received outside of Syria, and the caliph's confessor and one of his dis- 
ciples, a Persian, retired to the mountains and deserts of the Lebanon, 
and there established the religion which the Druses now profess. It is 
a strange combination of Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedism, 
but is founded upon the unusual basis of strict exclusiveness, separa- 
tion from heretics, veracity to each other only, and mutual protection 
and assistance. The unity of God is the great tenet of their faith. 
They call themselves, in fact. Unitarians. 

For eight hundred years they have retained a distinct religion and 
nationality, not seeking to extend their power, but to hold fast to that 




THE DRUSES. 



237 



which they have. They are, however, divided into two classes, those 
initiated into the mysteries of the faith and the uninitiated. The former 
are moral and abstain from all luxuries and personal adornments. The 
latter are free from all religious duties and are, if anything, prone to 
dress. Polygamy is unknown, and the general morality of the Druses 
is said to be above the average of eastern sects. The wife's rights are 
maintained. She can own personal property, chooses her own husband, 
and if divorced retains her half of the dower. 

The Druses have their princes, chiefs and common people. They 
pay a stated sum to the Sublime Porte, but are as nearly independent 
as any people who live in 



the empire. Their villages 
are usually placed at the 
entrances to passes, the 
houses rising tier upon tier, 
sometimes one village 
almost overlapping another, 
and the whole mountain 
side being covered with 
habitations and artificial 
gardens. Their churches 
are usually some distance 
away, jealously guarded 
from intrusion, and their 
ukkals (who are the 
initiated, or religious teach- 
ers) see to it that neither 
stranger nor infidel pene- 
trates the mysteries of their 
worship. The people are 
educated and industrious. 




VILLAGE OF SYRIA. 



simple in their habits and generally well 
The sheiks often labor with the common 
people, but sometimes live in state. Some of them are artisans, but the 
bulk of the population cultivate the mulberry, olive and vine upon the 
terraced hill-sides, and the women spin and weave at home. Silk is 
the chief manufacture. 

The Druses are divided into a number of tribes who are often at 
war with each other, but when danger threatens from without they unite 
under the leadership of the emir, or prince, and from their mountain 
homes bid defiance to the Sultan himself. Questions of peace and war 
are determined, in a way, by popular vote, the prince calling a general 



238 



THE world's fair. 



assembly on some mountain height, in which every sheik and peasant of 
any standing is entitled to a voice. When war has been determined 
criers often ascend the summits of the mountains, shouting in a loud 
voice : "To war ! to war ! Take your guns. Take your pistols. Noble 
sheiks, mount your horses. Arm yourselves with lance and saber. Gather 
to-morrow at Dair el-Kamar (once their capital). Zeal of God ! Zeal of 
combat ! " 

The hardy peasants, with their muskets and little bags of flour, their 
legs bare, and wearing short coats, promptly assemble under their chosen 
leaders. They are skillful marksmen, intrepid when brought to close quar- 
ters, but fighting mostly from behind rocks and bushes, and trusting to 
their success in skillful ambuscades. 

The common dress of the men is a coarse black woolen cloak, with 
-white stripes, thrown over a waistcoat, and loose, short trowsers of the 
same stuff, tied around the waist by a white 
or red linen sash. On the head is worn a 
flat, turnip-shaped turban. The women wear 
a coarse blue jacket and petticoat, without 
any stockings, and a sort of winding hood 
and veil, their hair being plaited and hang- 
ing down behind. 

The Druse women generally have fair 
complexions, dark blue eyes, long black hair 
and white teeth. The dress of those of 
high standing who have no religious scruples, 
as well as thai of Maronite ladies, is very 
striking and elegant. The most prominent 
ornament is the tantoor, a conical tube of 
silver from a foot to two feet in length, 
secured to a pad on the head by two silken 
cords which hang down the back and termi' 
nate in large tassels or knobs of silver. It 
supports a long white veil, which falls over the shoulders or the face, as 
required. The tantoor is worn by only married women. Other items 
of dress are a silk pelisse, fringed with gold, cord, over an embroidered 
silk vest, a rich shawl bound around the waist, a diadem of silver and 
gold, earrings and necklaces, loose silk trowsers and soft leather shoes. 
The life which they lead in the mountains gives them a vigor and anima- 
tion, which add to their natural charms of form and feature. 

The men marry at from sixteen to eighteen years of age and the 
women generally three or four years earlier. After the consent of the 




A DRUSE LADY. 



THE MARONITES. 2^9 

parents has been obtained and the dowry decided upon, the bride pre- 
sents her future husband with a dagger. With this he binds himself to 
protect her during Hfe, if she prove a true wife to him. Should she 
prove unfaithful he sends her back to her father's house, and with her 
the dagger without the shield. She is tried for her offense by her father 
and brothers at her husband's house, and, if found guilty, one of the 
brothers usually acts as executioner. The tantoor and a lock of bloody 
hair are afterwards sent to the husband, as an evidence that the awful 
duty has been performed and the family dishonor wiped out with the 
deed. 

THE MARONITES. 

The Maronltes, who dwell in the same district as the Druses, are 
Christians who have invariably supported the Roman Pontiff, and the 
patriarch of their church is subject to his confirmation. They were friends 
of the Crusaders, and, with the Druses, have always been enemies of the 
Mohammedans ; they both, however, have been so far reduced by the 
Porte as to pay tribute to a Turkish governor who resides at Dair el- 
Kamar. They have even had their bloody conflicts with the Druses, 
the difficulty between them having been that the Maronites were too tardy 
in fighting for their independenee to suit their more energetic neigh- 
bors. 

The villages which the Maronites solely occupy are chiefly situated 
in the country east of Tripoli and Tyre to the lake of Genesareth. 
They formerly held the entire chain of mountains from Antioch to Jeru- 
salem, and their homes were long the asylums of the Christians who were 
persecuted and driven away by the Saracens. Their ways of living are 
similar to those of the Druses. As with the latter, property is sacred 
among them. Their priests marry as in the early days of the Christian 
church, their dress being a black cossack, with a hood and leather girdle. 
The communion is celebrated by throwing the pieces of bread into the 
wine and feeding them to the communicants with a spoon. Among the 
relics of barbarism which the Maronites have retained is that of retalia- 
tion — the custom by which the nearest relative of a murdered person is 
bound to avenge him. 

SMYRNA. 

Most of the nationalities and religions of Turkey are represented 
at Smyrna, on the western coast of Asia Minor and, perhaps, next to 
Constantinople, the most important commercial port of the empire. 
There are Greeks and Turks, Jews and Roman Catholics, Armenians 



240 



THE world's fair. 




AN OLD TURK. 



and Americans. The city runs down the gentle slope of a hill to the 
Avater's edge, the Armenians living upon the lower ground, while be- 

^. — , ^»r— — _„_^_,^^j^ tween them and the Turks is the Jewish 

quarter. Smyrna is the Christian city of the 
Ottoman Empire, and here reside Arch- 
bishops of the Greek, Armenian and Roman 
Catholic churches. 

THE HEBREWS AND JERUSALEM. 

The Hebrew, or Jew, is to be viewed 
merely as a native of Palestine, or as a pil- 
grim to the Holy Land and to Jerusalem. 
From all quarters of the globe the people 
of a great, and yet almost invisible, nation 
come to wail over their fallen state. Of 
ancient Jerusalem little remains. Warriors 
of Europe, Asia and Africa, and representa- 
tives of nearly every religion, have besieged 
and devastated it, and were it not for the 

mountains and valleys which are so associated with Christian remem- 
brances and surround it, the identity of 

the Holy City might almost be questioned. 
Within, are crumbling walls and dirty 

narrow streets, and various unsatisfactory 

reasons are adduced for fixing upon spots 

where were the scenes in the life of Christ 

with which the Christian is so familiar. 

Constantine, for example, is reported to 

have recovered the Holy Sepulcher, over 

which the pagans had heaped a mound of 

earth, and to have erected a basilica to mark 

the spot. But while the Christians were ban- 
ished from Jerusalem there is no evidence to 

show that the locality was allowed to be thus 

marked, or that the present Church of the 

Holy Sepulchre was erected therein. 

The site of Solomon's Temple, on the 

other hand, has been fixed with tolerable 

certainty as being to the east of the modern city, upon a ridge guarded 

by valleys on every side. Still further east is the Golden Gate, a 




<<V^rt«/^w 



A MAN OF JERUSALEM. 



THE HEBREWS AND JERUSALEM. 



241 



double passage way, through which the Mohammedans are convinced 
that the King of the Christians may ride victoriously into Jerusalem. 
The gate is therefore walled up with solid masonry. 

Extending from one of the ruined walls of the Temple area is 
a remarkable series of piers upon which were arches, the remains of 
the bridge mentioned by ancient historians as spanning the valley and 
connecting the Temple with Jerusalem. Within the Temple area is the 
Mosque of Omar, or the Dome of the Rock, a magnificent structure 
rising in its dome-like grandeur from a great marble platform. There 
are other mosques within the area, but none equal to this, " next after 
Mecca the most sacred, next after Cordova the most beautiful, of all 
Moslem shrines." Beneath the foundation of the Temple area are 
various subterranean chambers, one of them, according to Mohammedan 




AT JERUSALEM'S WALL. 

tradition, being the birthplace of Jesus, and used as a chapel, which is 
dedicated to him. The site of the Temple, itself, is a matter of warm 
dispute. Some incline to the belief that the Mosque of Omar stands 
over the altar of the Temple and that its marble platform marks the 
site. Another theory is advanced, and voluminously supported by cir- 
cumstantial evidence, that a certain cave in a mysterious rock which the 
mosque incloses is the Holy Sepulcher. It will thus be seen how the 



242 THE world's FAIR. 

minds of the Hebrew and the Christian must be torn with conflicting 
emotions in their vain endeavors to fix upon the exact locality of the 
spot which each considers so holy. 

At the western wall, near where the piers and bridge arches were 
discovered, is the wailing place of the Jews; and here gather the pil- 
grims from all lands, as well as the residents of Jerusalem, to bewail 
their national misfortunes, and especially their exclusion from the Tem- 
ple where their fathers worshiped and which is now in ruins. This 
locality is near the squalid quarter of the city which is occupied by the 
Jews, and they seem to have chosen it because of the fine state of pre- 
servation in which they found the wall, retaining as it does a trace of 
the massive and perfect character of the Temple's architecture, and 
bringing to their minds something of its past glories and sanctities. 
"' Many of the stones are twenty-five feet in length, and apparently have 
remained undisturbed since the time of the first builder. Here the 
Jews assemble every Friday to mourn over their fallen state. Some 
press their lips against the crevices in the masonry as though imploring 
an answer from some unseen presence within. Others utter loud cries of 
anguish. Here is one group joining in the prayers of an aged rabbi ; 
yonder another sitting in silent anguish, their cheeks bathed in tears. 
The stones are in many places worn smooth with their passionate kisses. 
The grief of the new-comers is evidently deep and genuine, but with the 
older residents it' has subsided into little more than a mere ceremonial 
observance and an empty form." 

Lying north of the Temple area is the Valley of Jehosaphat, on 
the other side of which is the garden of Gethsemane, and, beyond, the 
Mount of Olives. Both Jew and Mohammedan believe that the valley 
is to be the scene of the final judgment ; the Mohammedan that his 
prophet will stand upon the Golden Gate, and Jesus upon the Mount of 
Olives, and together judge the world. The valley is therefore a con- 
tinuous grave-yard. The garden is about 80 yards square, contains a 
number of neat flower beds and gnarled olive trees, and is fenced with 
sticks. A rambling church building is perched upon the summit of the 
mount. 

THE ROAD TO JERICHO. 

Taking the road which carries us past the Mount of Olives, in a 
northeasterly direction, we journey along the bases of wild mountains 
and robber-like glens, toward Jericho and the plains of the Jordan. We 
have, in fact, a guard, for the Bedouins are frequently desperate. In the 
middle of the journey are the ruins of an ancient "khan," a resting place 




A WOMAN OF SYRIA. 



244 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

for travelers, and which has stood In the same place from time im- 
memorial, the only one on the road ; the inn where stopped the Good 
Samaritan, who so tenderly cared for him who had been wounded and 
robbed. 

Jericho, the ancient, a great commercial city, stood upon the plain 
of the Jordan. Joshua destroyed it when he entered into the promised 
land. Three times more it became mighty and the residence of kings, 
and was thrice leveled to the ground, by Romans and Mohammedans. 
A Turkish hamlet next sprung up, and of this there only now remain 
a few wretched mud huts and a ruined Saracenic tower. 

BETHLEHEMITES. 

The men, many of whom are shepherds tending their flocks, usually 
are seen with their musical pipes of reed with mouth pieces of hardwood, 
all of home make. But the truth must be told, the words being bor- 
rowed from an English traveler and Christian, that although the Bethle- 
hemites are all professedly Christians, they are a turbulent, quarrelsome 
set, ever fighting amongst themselves or with their neighbors. In the 
disturbances which take place so frequently at Jerusalem, it is said that 
the ring-leaders are commonly found to be Bethlehemites. About five 
miles from Bethlehem, in the side of a limestone mountain, and 
approached by a narrow path through a rugged ravine, is a black slit 
through which one person can crowd, only to find before him a series of 
vast vaulted chambers. This has been fixed upon as the retreat of 
David and his followers, the cave of Adullam. 

Just outside of the village is the Church of the Nativity, situated 
upon the limestone hill which is the site of Bethlehem, being a noble 
structure with stately columns. The inn, or khan of the East, is gener- 
ally without the town, and that of Bethlehem, upon whose site the church 
stands, was upon ground which had descended to David and to David's 
adopted son, Chimham. Long after the time of David it was known as 
the khan of Chimham, being the first resting place from Jerusalem on 
the road to Egypt. The chapel of the Nativity is a grotto, and there is 
strong evidence to prove that the Saviour was born in a cave which 
might have served as a stable to the inn. 

NAZARETH. 

Rapidly passing over the steep hills that encompass Nazareth the 
little village itself is reached. Before a visit is paid to the Church of the 
Annunciation, supposed to have been built on the site of Joseph's work- 




IN THE HAREM. 
245 



246 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

shop, it is proposed to glance a moment at the woipen of Nazareth. As 
of old they are still bearing jugs of water to their homes, washing their 
clothes in little streams, engaging in the fields or in household duties. 
They are tall, erect and handsome, with Grecian features, seeming to 
have a touch of pride in their carriage, although they are courteous and 
pleasing. They do not veil their countenances, and instead of wearing 
gold and silver coins in their hair their faces are framed in a sort of cap 
to which is attached a pad covered with the coins, the lower row of 
which usually falls over the forehead. A similar fashion prevails among 
the Kurdish maidens. 

The chief attraction, artistically speaking, of the Church of the 
Annunciation is a painting which hangs over its altar. The central 
figure is Joseph, the carpenter, with his axe upon a block of wood, but 
his fatherly and wondering eyes are fixed upon the child Jesus, who sits 
on a low stool by the bench and is reading to him and to Mary, who 
likewise is seated and forgetful of all but her love and her wonder. 




THE HINDUS. 

|HE claim is made, based principally upon physical character- 
istics, that the Hindu, or native of Hither India, is an amalgam- 
ation of the Mongol and the Aryan. On the other hand 
those who place paradise and a submerged birth-place of races 
in the Indian Ocean start a great emigration from the south- 
west, rolling through Ceylon and Southern Hindustan and 
leaving in its track the Dravidas, or aborigines ; the Aryan 
stock spreading northwest from the Himalaya Mountains. 
But whether the Aryans came down from the north, mixing 
with such of the natives as they could and driving the balance 
into the jungles, or whether they came up from the south, to found a 
civilization on the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean 
Sea, certain it is that in the regular features, the brunette skin, the black 
hair, the long head and oval face of the Hindu stands confessed the 
Indo-European. 

The aboriginal tribes number about twenty million people and exist 
in the mountainous districts, in jungles or the outskirts of towns. 
Although they differ from the refined people of the higher castes, in 
physiognomy and cranial development they are quite distinct from the 
Indo-Chinese Mongolian. In their dispositions they are his antipode. 
British influence has somewhat subdued their ferocity — put it, perhaps, 
in irons — but although they have been drafted into the English army 
they are still the tigers of the jungles, with their claws cut off ; and 
although, they have had Brahmanism, Mohammedanism and Christian- 
ity near them for centuries, many of them persistently hide in the wilds 
of Hindustan and worship the Devil, as they did of old. Their human 
sacrifices, mostly of captive children, are offered to the malignant deities 
who alone are supposed to rule the world. 

But the Hindu proper, the Aryan-Indian, has not been in hiding, all 
these generations. He has developed a religious system which once was 
noble and has spread over the greater portion of Asia, modified by race 
and geographical peculiarities. He has been a gigantic manufacturer of 



2^8 THE world's FAIR. 

rich and delicate fabrics, silver and gold ware, furniture, swords — every- 
thing, in fact, wherein could be exercised his artistic taste, his manual 
skill and his indomitable patience. The hand of the Hindu was as cun- 
ning when Imperial Rome purchased the products of its skill as it is to- 
day. He works with the same rude tools as his father did; they are 
members of the same caste, and methods and tools are alike handed 
down from father to' son. The Hindu farmer is supposed to be the first 
to rotate his crops, but the mechanism by which the rotation is accom- 
plished is crude in the extreme. The manure of cattle he will not use 
upon his land, as it is considered holy, and devoted to religious purposes. 

As architects the Hin- 
dus have showed great 
genius ; but their temples, 
distinguished for size and 
splendor, were built before 
the Christian era, and the 
structures erected by the 
Mohammedan emperors are 
of the Saracenic style of 
architecture, and therefore 
devoid of originality, though 
fmely executed. The na- 
tives have constructed im- 
mense numbers of reser- 
voirs, massively built of 
stone, and the princes of 
former days undertook to 
put in operation a system 
of canals. They built a 
number which fell into dis- 
use and the work has been 
energetically taken up by 
BURGHERS OF CEYLON. ^\-^q British Govcmment, 

both to the end of furnishing the country with irrigating facilities and 
improving its navigable rivers, the Jumna and the Ganges. 




THE SYSTEM OF CASTE. 

The entire population of India was originally divided into four 
great castes. First there was a division which the Aryans made, by 
which they separated themselves from the Sudras, or aboriginal tribes 



SYSTEM OF CASTE. 



249 



which they found occupying the country when they invaded it. Caste, 
in the Sanskrit, signifies " color," the aborigines being of a darker com- 
plexion than the Aryans. The Sudras remained a distinct caste (ser- 
vants), and there were also the divisions of Brahmans, who were 
expounders of the Veda, and conducted the sacrifices ; the Kshatriyas, 
warriors and subordinate priests, and the Vaisyas, comprising the peas- 
antry and merchants. These great divisions were subject to further 
separations into specific trades and professions, and into the unclean 
castes of the aboriginal population. 

Although there is still a system of caste which is all-embracing, 
through the influence of Western thought the sharp lines of division are 
being gradually obscured. A man of high caste was formerly justified 
in slaying one of a lower one, who even 
touched him accidentally, and the lower 
castes were so unclean that it was consid- 
ered both sinful and criminal for a Brah- 
man to instruct them. Far beneath the 
uncleanliness of the aboriginal castes 
were those who had lost color in so- 
ciety. Eighty years ago, even, the system 
was at the height of its glory. 

Persons who abandoned the Hindu 
religion, traveled into foreign countries 
and ate forbidden food, or food cooked by 
an inferior caste, a union with women of 
a lower caste or a foreigner, the non-per- 
formance of the minutest religious rites, 
made the offenders and the offenses 
which were spurned and spit upon. To 
give a few instances: A Brahman of 
Calcutta was forced by a European to eat flesh and drink spirits, and 
another ate with a Brahman of a prescribed caste ; to get back into good 
standing they were obliged to pay thousands of dollars to their brethren. 
A number of Brahmans, who secretly performed the funeral rites over 
the body of a lady who had lost caste by associating with Mohammedans, 
were themselves excommunicated when their offense was discovered. 
In vain they applied for re-instatement, and at last, in despair, one of 
their number tied himself to a jar of water and drowned himself in the 
Ganges. Three brothers lost caste through the indiscretion of their 
mother; one poisoned himself and the other two fled the country. A 
Brahman, in a moment of rashness, married a washerwoman's daughter. 




WATER CARRIER. 



250 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



His act was discovered, he sold his property, fled to another city and his 
wife became a maniac. A Mussulman nobleman seized the daughters 
of some Brahmans. They complained to the judge, but were irreclaim- 
ably disgraced, and poisoned themselves. 

The outcasts of Hindu society are therefore forced to form a class 
of their own. Those who are cast out of the lower ranks are put to the 

most menial tasks. All over 
Hindustan are found a people 
who are sprung from a mixture 
of castes, from the marriage of 
a sudra, or servant, with a Brah- 
man woman. Their occupations 
are those of the lowest day- 
laborers. They carry the dead 
to their graves, and deceased 
dogs to their last resting-places. 
They act as public executioners 
and perform other offices which 
usually devolve upon slaves or 
criminals. These outcasts are 
called Chandalahs, and are de- 
scribed by the sacred books: 
"The abode of the Chandalahs 
must be out of town. They must 
not have the use of entire vessels. 
Their sole wealth must be dogs 
and asses. They must wear 
only old clothes. Their dishes 
for food must be broken pots, 
and their ornaments rusty iron. 
They must continually roam from 
place to place. Let food be given to them in potsherds, and not by the 
hands of the giver, and let them not walk by night in cities and towns." 
In Southern India is a body of outcasts, inhabiting the Tamul 
country, or the land of the Dravidas. The people are called Pariahs, 
and the name has been applied, collectively, to the thousands of outcasts 
who still adhere to the country which treats them so cruelly. Formerly 
the Pariah was obliged to wear a bell, in order that the Brahman might 
be warned of his approach, and escape from the very contamination of 
his shadow. So utterly are they detested by Hindu society, that the 
most disreputable mongrel dogs, roaming about the streets and suburbs. 
or hunting in packs upon the plains, are called Pariah dogs. 




INDIAN TREE HUTS. 



THE SYSTEM OF CASTE. 251 

It has been urged that caste was established for the practical good 
of separating society permanently into trades and professions, that per- 
fection might ultimately be attained. But we have seen how the system 
has worked in this particular, and it may be added, on the authority of a 
Hindu author, that "native carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, engravers, 
lithographers, printers, gold and silversmiths now-a-days turn out 
articles which in point of workmanship are not very much inferior to 
those imported from Europe. Of course they are materially indebted 
to Europeans for this improvement." 

Looking at the evil effects of the system from a higher point of 
view, it is a drag upon charity, mutual love and the true ideas of a 
religious life ; for the strange anomaly exists of being able to wash away 
the sins of a lifetime by simply wafehing in the sacred Ganges, and of 
being savagely cast out of the pale of fellowship, sometimes beyond re- 
call, because of the violation of certain arbitrary rules whose origin is 
yet in dispute. 

Where European influence is paramount, however, especially in 
Bengal, the system of caste is dying. Superior castes engage in the 
occupation of the lower ; Brahmans hold government offices, act as 
soldiers, enter the service of Europeans, Mohammedans, and even Su- 
dras ; and under the British government, an actual loss of caste can not 
be punished by disinheritance or a forfeiture of property. 

Aside from European influence, two native forces are breaking down 
this hoary and evil institution. Over fifty years ago a religious sect was 
formed, composed of Christians of educational institutions, Mohammed- 
ans and Brahmans, whose tenets are the fatherly and brotherly love of 
one God, with Christ as His most holy and spiritual representative, the 
rejection of miracles, and the abolition of all distinctions of caste and 
religion as contrary to the broad, human character of their faith. The 
sect has been established in all the large cities of India. 

A nabob, named Peeralee, succeeded in destroying the caste of 
many noble and rich families of Calcutta, and from them have descended 
the Peeralees, a people who are scattered over the country. They have 
risen to power as philanthropists, reformers and patrons of literature, 
and although still Hindus in religion, they are outcasts from society. 
Brahman priests administer the rehgious rites for them, and they have 
tried to buy their way back to their former caste, but without avail. One 
of their number started an English paper called the " Reformer," which 
has done much to hasten the downfall of caste, and the general elevation 
and refinement of the Hindu community of Calcutta are principally due 
to them. 



252 



THE WORLD*S FAIR. 



A BRAHMAN. 



For ages the Brahman upheld his title as "the twice-born," by his 
religious purity and moral excellence ; but from the worship of one God 
he has degraded himself to the adoration of 330,000,000 of gods and 
goddesses, and instead of studying how he can develop his spiritual 
nature that he may impart it to the world, he has become a mercenary, 
deceitful, scheming worldling and beggan In short, some irreverent 
hard-headed statistician has taken the trouble to analyze the criminal 
records of Bengal, where the Brahmans greatly flourish, and he has 
found that representatives of this caste in the jails of the province far 
outnumber those of any other class. 

As a relic, however, of something pure and noble, it is of interest to 
„_„,.. , . learn how the Brahman is born into 

the privileges of his order, which 
consist of being feed, fed and 
feasted upon every possible occasion 
and of being accorded all outward 
j honor. 

I The sacred office of priest may 
I be bestowed upon the boy, at from 
i nine to fifteen years of age. Upon 
I the day fixed, if the weather is fair, 
the candidate for sacerdotal honors, 
having abstained from the use of 
fish and oil, shaved his head, bathed 
his body and donned clothes of red, 
is furnished with a tall tinsel hat, 
and appears before the priest. His 
spiritual superior reads certain incan- 
tations, and after worshiping Vishnu, 
one of the Brahman Trinity — who 
is represented by the household god 
(a small, round stone) — the boy is covered with a cloth to keep him from 
the contaminating gaze of a non-Brahman ; under the protection of the 
cloth he is invested with the mendicant's staff, the branch of a certain 
tree, at the top of which is tied a piece of dyed cloth. He afterwards 
receives the sacred thread of his caste, other incantations follow, the 
father even taking part, whispering the mysterious words to his son, lest 
some one of an inferior caste should hear them. Dressed as a beggar, 
with a staff upon his shoulder and a wallet by his side, the youth solicits 




A IJliAHMAN AT PRAYER. 



CASTES AND TRIBES. 



253 



alms of his relatives, who give him a small quantity of rice and some 
money. Burnt sacrifice is then offered by the father, and other forms 
are exhausted, after which the youthful aspirant, who has been squatting 
upon the floor, rises in ecstacy and declares his intention of leading the 
life of a religious mendicant. But the boyish actor is persuaded to 
abandon a pretended determination, and which all parties to the comedy 
know is not sincere, by being reminded that the holy Shastra inculcates 
the cultivation of a clean heart and a religious spirit rather than outward 
humiliation. Casting down his beggar's staff, the boy assumes a thin 

bamboo staff, which he throws 
over his shoulder as an evi- 
dence that he has decided to 
remain v/ith the world. He is 
taught to commit certain ser- 
vices, fasts, and for three days 
is prohibited from seeing the 
sun or the face of an inferior 
being. On the morning of the 
fourth day he goes to the sa- 
cred stream of the Ganges, 
throws the two staves into the 
water, bathes, repeats his pray- 
ers, returns home, and resumes 
his ordinary occupations. 

This is the ceremony which 
transforms a Hindu into a 
Brahman; but as the system of 
caste bars out the majority of 
natives from being thus "twice 
born," it is evident that 
many natives of Hindustan 
are strict adherents to what 
has come to be known as Brah'- 
Brahmans. They are simply 




CHIEF OF A VILLAGE. 



manism without 
Hindus. 



having ever become 



CASTES AND TRIBES. 



In the separation of the Hindus into castes, tribal lines have gener. 
ally been observed. Brahmans, artisans and servants, however, must be 
distributed throughout society. In some cases whole tribes seem grad- 
ually to have changed their occupations, so that the agricultural caste of 



254 



THE WORLDS FAIR. 



to-day may have been originally a military caste, and the greatest pride is 
taken in tracing the tribal genealogy back to one of the original four great 

castes. The tribes 
which have been 
fixed upon as the 
aborigines are the 
smallest in thepop- 
ulation,and usually 
live among the 
hills of Central and 
Southern India. 
One of the most 
noteworthy are the 
Gonds of Central 
India. They num- 
ber over 800,000, 
it is true, but that 
is small for an In- 
dian tribe. The 
Gonds are almost 
diminutive in stat- 
ure, but are hardy 
and brave. Near 
the Hindu bound- 
aries they are agri- 
culturists ; in the 
interior they are 
wild and savage in 
their social and re- 
ligious customs. 
Universally, the 
men are great hunt- 
ers, their peculiar 
weapon being a 
small axe, which 
they throw with 
such skill and force 
as to kill both birds 
This they also use to fell trees, which they burn, plant- 
the ashes. The chief hunters of the village also use 
matchlocks in the place of bow and arrow. The women are drudges, and 




and animals, 
ing grain in 



A NATIVE HUNT 



255 



wives are bought and paid for in money or in services to their parents. 
The Gonds have intermarried with the Hindu tribes near them, espe- 
cially with the noble Rajpoots, in which case their physical characteristics 
are greatly modified. In Southern India is a variety of tribes whose 
occupancy of the hills antedates history. Some of them have dwindled 
to a few hundred. They live generally in communities, but one of the 
more populous tribes dwells in villages, with regular streets. The houses 
are of stone and mud, thatched, divided into separate apartments, and 
otherwise above the average hut, but strange to say the doorways are 
not more than 40X 25 inches. 

A NATIVE HUNT. 

In the vast jungles lining the sacred Ganges, especially in the 
province of Bengal, lie in wait the most destructive to human life of any 

of the wild beasts — the royal 
Bengal tiger. In thickly set- 
tled districts the rifle has sup- 
pressed His Royal Highness, 
but in many parts of Bengal 
he still is the terror of the 
villages, attacking cattle and 
human beings with equal 
ardor. At night the villagers 
protect themselves with noisy 
drums and with torches ; by 
day they sometimes insti- 
tute a great hunt, in which the 
natives for miles around par- 
ticipate, some on foot and oth- 
ers on the backs of elephants. 

THE TAMULS. 

The chief of the Dravidian 
races, or aborigines of India, 
WOMEN OF CEYLON. ^re the Tamils, or Tamuls, 

inhabiting a country in the southeastern part of Hindustan and por- 
tions of Ceylon. They are restless, lithe and dark brown, being 
the sailors of India, wandering along the coasts seeking employ- 
ment in English ships. Their language (the " Kuli ") has given a 
name to Indian laborers as a body. A coolie is known the world 




2.S6 



THE world's fair. 



over. The Tamuls are social and energetic, and have not that exclu- 
siveness which is a trait of several minor Dravidian tribes, who will have 
nothing to do with foreigners but live in walled villages and only inter- 
marry with their own people. The whole group of Dravidas is some- 
times called the Tamulian family. The Tamuls number over lo.ooo ooo 
souls. 

Near them are the Telugus, a populous tribe who are agriculturists, 
but were formerly of a "ommercial turn, holding, at one time, several 




HOUSE IN CEYLON. 

islands in the Indian Archipelago. They are tall, fair and commanding 
in appearance. 

In contrast to them are a hill tribe, in Central India, who, instead of 
numbering 14,000,000, as do the Telugus, muster not more than 1,400. 
They are the Kotar, but are models of industry ; for not only are they 
agriculturists, but carpenters, smiths, basket-makers and menders of 
plows. They, are in fact, a little inclined to be parsimonious, and 
dead cattle and carrion of every kind are promptly eaten by them. 

THE RAJPOOTS. 

This tribe claims to be descended from the original Kshatriya caste 
mentioned by Menu, who were to protect the people and serve as war- 




PRODUCTS OF HINDU SKIl^ 



THE RAJPOOTS. 



257 



riors, as well as offer sacrifice. The conflict seems to have been severe 
which established the supremacy of the Brahmans over them ; but while 
the latter have fallen from their high estate, this remnant of the primi- 
tive military caste maintains the ancient dignity. The territory of the 
Rajpoots is in Northwestern India, and includes fifteen states allied to 
the British government. Their history is made up of Mohammedan and 
native invasions which, for centuries, they resisted, but finally to be safe 
from the encroachments of neighboring states they placed themselves 
under the protection of Great Britain. 

The Rajpoots are not supposed to be pure Hindu, but show such 
force of character that their people have given chiefs to most of the tribes 
of Rajpoota. One of their tribes also dwells in Cashmere, and its chief 
is lord of that important state. 

The appearance of the Rajpoot does not belie his commanding char- 
acter, he being tall, vigorous and athletic. Woman is treated by him 
with a romantic gallantry which, with his other qualities, stamps him as. 
the Norman of India. The Rajpoot lady is well informed and an illus- 
tration of the leaven which is to raise the female condition throughout 
India. 

THE GYPSIES' LAND. 

There are no other people in the world who have done so little for 
it, about whom so many theories have been advanced, as the gypsies. 
They received their name from the fact that the majority of early inves- 
tigators settled upon the theory that they were Egyptians ; but they have,, 
by turns, been called Egyptians, Hindus, Nubians, Tartars, Assyrians, 
Ethiopians, Armenians, Moors and German Jews. The most learned 
linguists of late years have, however, found in the words and structure 
of their language evidence which proves, beyond reasonable doubt, that 
it is a branch of the Sanskrit, corrupted by additions from the vocabula- 
ries of the many countries to which they have wandered, and that they 
are the descendants of some of the lower tribes of Northern Hindustan. 
The language is necessarily split into a multitude of dialects, but there 
are certain forms common to all, and it contains such evident mixtures. 
from the Persian and Greek that the course of their first emigration has 
been traced. Persian and Arabian authorities identify them with a tribe 
of Northern Hindustan, 10,000 of whom were invited into Persia to 
satisfy the passion for music which is so marked in that country ; this was 
about 400 A. D. Wave after wave followed the first and the wanderers, 
soon passed from Asia Minor into Europe, besides spreading into other 
parts of the continent and Africa, They refrain from eating certain 



258 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



animals and are believers in transmigration of the soul ; but, if necessary 
to their well-being, they conform to the religion of the country in which 
they live. 

Notwithstanding the ease with which they adapted themselves to 
the views of others, on account of their modes of life and their mysteri- 
X)us callings they vrere from the first a proscribed race. Both Saracens 
and Tartars drove them out of Asia, and they 
were shrewd enough to pose as persecuted Christ- 
ians, when from the twelfth to the fifteenth centu- 
ries they made their appearance in hordes of thou- 
sands each, and 
begged, thieved 
and humbugged 
their way into 
Greece, Russia, 
Austria, Switzer- 
land, Italy, Ger- 
many, Scandi- 
navia, England, 
France and 
Spain. It seems 
to have been 
during this 
period that they 
s o effectually 
aroused the curi- 
osity of the civ- 
lized world as to their identity and real 
character. The whole race which had 
wormed itself into the most obscure 
cranny of Europe succeeded in adver- 
tising itself and its magic arts in a 
way which might make 'an enterpris- 
HiNDu GYPSIES. [^g mcrchaut blush for shame. They 

Tiad been conquered in Egypt and forced to renounce Christianity. They 
had been reconquered by the Christians, and were now doing penance 
by their wanderings for having abandoned the true faith. Earlier stdl 
their forefathers had ill-treated Joseph and Mary, and they were all 
penitent, sorrowing, wandering Jews. 

Finally the ignorance and superstition of the middle ages conspired 
against these dealers in the black arts, who had so thoroughly adver- 




OTHER GREAT TRIBES, 



259 



tised themselves, and further interest In them for several centuries 
was swallowed up in an all-absorbing passion to crush them out of exis- 
tence. An illustration of the severity of the laws enacted against them 
is that which remained in force in Germany down to the i8th century, 
providing that every gypsy more than eighteen years of age found in 
the kingdom should be hanged. Later they were more humanely treated, 
Maria Theresa, of Austria, being specially active in efforts to improve 
their condition. Steps were taken to educate their children and induce- 
ments were offered for them to cultivate the soil. They settled in large 
numbers in the villages of Hungary and Transylvania, special streets 
being laid out for them and buildings erected. But these attempts to 




A BAGGAGE ANIMAL. 



jjlant them in the soil, or bind them to any settled ways of life, proved 
generally abortive, as they always have done. In a more literal sense 
than of any other people it may be said that they are wanderers upon 
the face of the earth. 

In Europe, Asia, Africa, America and In the islands of every sea, 
they show their dark soft skin, large brilliant eyes, exquisitely shaped 
mouths, cherry lips, snow-white teeth, and elegant forms so picturesquely 
draped, being pronounced by critics to be among the fairest physical 
specimens of humanity which were ever created. If their morals were 
as perfect as their bodies, It were well that they thus displayed them- 
selves to the world, 

OTHER GREAT TRIBES. 
The Cashmere, of Northwestern India, are ciaimed by many to be 



THE CEYLONESE. 26 1 

the purest specimens of the ancient Hindus. They are tall, vigorous 
and industrious, the women being famed for their fine complexions and 
beauty. Their kingdom of Cashmere is enclosed by mountains, the 
valleys of which are wonderfully fertile. Rice is the common food of 
the inhabitants, and the lakes yield thousands of tons of a water-nut 
which may be ground into- a flour, cooked or eaten raw. 

The valley of Cashmere is a picture for an artist, with its little vil- 
lages, all containing groves of poplars planted centuries ago by Mogul 
Conquerors, and its thousands of cattle, sheep and goats grazing on the 
hill-sides and fertile plains ; and near its center the city of Cashmere, 
lying for four miles on both sides of a tributary of the Indus, bound 
together with numerous canals and called the Venice of Asia. The 
city contains a gigantic Mohammedan mosque in which 60,000 people 
can worship and near it is a charming lake, with floating islands, sur- 
rounded by beautiful scenery and the gorgeous palaces of former Mogul 
emperors. This is the locality which Moore selected for the closing 
scene of Lalla Rookh, Cashmere is the center of the shawl industry 
and quite a commercial point. The kingdom is a portion of the terri- 
tory which the Sikhs transferred to Great Britain, but was sold by the 
latter to a rajah, and is independent. 

The Mahrattas for a century were the most powerful of the Hindu 
tribes, being for many years in possession of Delhi, the center of the 
Mohammedan power and capital of the Mogul empire. Their states 
which were finally united stretched quite across Hindustan, but after 
their defeat by the Afghans in 1761, they commenced to decline in 
power, A long war with England completed their subjugation as a 
military power, although they are still turbulent and predatory, and 
remarkable horsemen. They are scattered over portions of Central and 
Western India. 

THE CEYLONESE. 

Their island is chiefly noted for its natural scenery and for the 
stupendous ruins of a Buddhist civilization, which are buried in the 
depths of its dense forests. The primitive inhabitants are the Vaddahs, 
a tribe of outcasts who live in the caves and jungles of Eastern Ceylon 
or in mud huts near European settlements. A few words constitute 
their language ; they have not even a mythology, eat lizards and monkeys, 
and seem irreclaimable. 

The Singhalese are supposed to have emigrated from the valleys of 
the Ganges about the middle of the sixth century, and either brought 
Buddhism with them or were converted through the personal teachings 



262 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



of its great master. They founded a monarchy, and were in continual 
warfare with the Tamuls, or Dravidas of Southern Hindustan, whose 
kings often ruled the island and introduced the worship of Hindu deities 
into Buddhist temples. The Buddhism of Ceylon has, therefore, been 
greatly corrupted, notwithstanding the existence of its many sacred 
shrines to which thousands of pilgrims repair. Upon the summit of 
Adam's Peak will be shown the imprint of Buddha's sacred foot. His 

tooth is presented in an elegant shrine. 
In the north of the island was^ the 
ancient capital of Ceylon, and its 
mighty ruins indicate what must have 
been the power of the Singhalese, after 
they had obtained supremacy over the 
Tamuls and established Buddhism as 
the national faith. The most remarkable 
of these remains is a vast rockhewn- 
temple, at the right of its entrance 
being a reclining figure of Gautama 
(Buddha), forty-five feet in length. The 
mere ruins of a bell-shaped temple, or 
dagoba, tower to a height of 250 feet, 
with a diameter of 360, and, from base 
to pinnacle, the monument is covered 
with gigantic trees. At another point is 
the sacred Bo tree (whose pedigree has 
been traced to 288 B. C), and scattered 
over the island are colossal reservoirs and 
tanks which were parts of a general sys- 
tem of irrigation. The Singhalese are 
yet the most numerous of the natives, 
being devoted to that corrupted Buddhism which the Burmese are 
seeking to bring back to the original purity. 

RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 

The trinity of Brahmanism consists of Brahma as Creator, Vishnu 
as Preserver, and Siva as Destroyer. They are priestly developments, 
having no existence in the Vedas, the collection of hymns which formed 
the basis of the early Hindu religion. 

Brahma was originally the Eternal Essence of things; something 
to be contemplated, immaterial and invisible. After the Vedas came 
the Brahmanas, an expansion of some portions of the first religious 




BAS RELIEF FROM AN INDIAN TEMPLE. 



RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 



265 



books, by which the priests were set aside from the world as holy and 
divine, and Hindu society divided into castes. 

Prayer had ever been the all-important power, and without it the 
gods who are created in the Vedas could not rule the world. Brahman- 
aspati was the god of prayer, and therefore became the great god, his 
priests, the Brahmans, being little below him. There is a Vishnu in the 
Vedas, but he is rarely mentioned, and is named as a minor sun god. 
But he has been developed into the creator of the earth and the 
preserver of its unbroken order. Siva is god of the destructive forces, 
and has his minor gods. His forerunner in the Vedas is supposed to be 
Indro, the god of storms. Siva, however, was actually adopted from the 
mythology of the Dravidas, who were thus bound closer to Brahmanism. 

The very creation of the trinity of Brahmanism is ascribed to the 
opponents of Buddhism, who wished thereby to unite all the elements of 
the Aryan and the aboriginal population which were opposed to the new 
doctrine. A symbol, so to speak, was then formed, represented by the 
image of a body with three heads cut out of a single block of stone. 

The separate images of the gods which form the trinity seem to 
vary. Brahma is represented with several heads, each one of which is 
crowned. 

Siva is usually four-handed, and has three eyes, one in the middle 
of his forehead. In one hand is a trident, in another a sling, while his 
other hands are either empty or contain an antelope and a flame of fire. 
Around his neck is a necklace of skulls, and on his head is a cap of 
elephant or tiger skin. In different images, Siva's hands vary from four 
to thirty-two. 

Vishnu is generally represented as attended by an eagle, and having 
four hands and a number of heads, emblematic of his omniscience and 
omnipresence. 

One of the Vedic hymns makes the creation of the world to consist 
of three acts — first, love which was born of religious meditation ; second, 
the impulse which love gave to the creative element, fire ; and third, the 
act of creation. Manu, the first ancestor of mankind, was the father of 
the Aryans ; and this fact gave rise, later, to their separation from the 
darker tribes, and the establishment of the first system of caste. Vishnu 
assigned Manu to the earth, and the latter was the author of the most 
famous of the social and public laws of the Hindus. 

The only trinity which is authorized by the Vedas is that of " cm" 
— a mysterious syllable which in the Sanskrit is formed with three 
letters; three letters and one sound — this is the real trinity of the 
ancient Hindu religion. One of its religious text books is entirely 




264 



INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM. 265 

devoted to showing how " om " is immortal. Among its most lucid 
passages are these : " Om is immortal. Its unfolding is this universe, is 
all that was, is, and shall be. Indeed, all is the word om; and if there 
is anything outside of these three manifestations, it is also om. For this 
all is Brahma; this soul is Brahma." 

Fire, as has been seen, is pronounced a divine and creative element; 
henceitis Agni, thegodof fire, who burns the body that he may recreate 
a celestial form which he allows another god to endow with immortality. 

The goddess Doorga, wife of Siva, is the Minerva of the Hindus, 
and even of greater power than she, for Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are 
all said to have propitiated her, and she was the terror of the other gods. 
Her image represents her with three eyes and ten arms, in the act of 
piercing a giant with a spear and with the fangs of a huge serpent which 
she grasps by the tail. Her other hands are filled with weapons of war. 
In honor of this monster is h^ld the greatest of the Hindu festivals, com- 
memorative of the day on which a great king of India, now deified, 
marched against a prince of Ceylon who had stolen his perfect wife. 
Other festivals are celebrated in honor of the goddess, but this is the 
greatest of all, because superstition and national pride join hands to give 
it dclat. 

Sudra, the king of heaven holds the first place among the infe- 
rior deities, his position being maintained only by constantly warring 
against the giants of India. He may be ejected by a Brahman. Tama, 
the holy king, judges the dead, he being a hideous green man in red 
garments who holds court in the mountains. The rivers of India are 
divinities, particularly the Ganges, which descends from heaven, and 
whose waters purify sin. 

Krishna was one of Vishnu's incarnations. Another of Krishna's 
titles is Jagannatha, or lord of the world. To him is dedicated a 
great temple, that of Jagannatha, or Juggernaut. The town situated in 
Bengal is called by the same name. But the great car of Juggernaut, 
forty-three feet high, with its sixteen ponderous wheels, no longer crushes 
any human victims. The temple, however, is still the most holy of the 
shrines of Hindustan, and is visited annually by 1,000,000 pilgrims. 

So, through the centuries, the gods went on multiplying. Every 
physical principle and force of the earth had one, and to cover the in- 
finity of the heavens hundreds of thousands, — yea, millions — of gods, 
were created, although not called by name. 

INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM. 

Although Buddhism has been all but confined to Ceylon, "The 
Divine Island," which tradition assigns as the scene of many of Buddha's 



266 THE world's FAIR. 

priestly labors, it threatened, at one time, to supplant Brahmanism, and 
has in spite of its persecutions, had much influence upon Brahmanism, 
and has spread over the vast empires to the east. Buddhism abolished 
caste as a religious institution and carried its religion to all people. Purity 
of conduct was inculcated — " to eschew everything bad, to perform 
everything good, to tame one's thoughts." All sacrifices were rejected. 
Nature was an illusion. The final object is Nirvana, the deliverance of 
the soul from all pain and the body from all passions by right view, right 
sense, right speech, right action, right position, right energy, right mem- 
ory and right meditation. Buddhism left to Brahmanism the doctrine 
of the incarnation of the gods, which has been, for ages, an important 
feature of the Hindu religion. This incarnation is called by the Brah- 
mans an Avatar, Vishnu having been especially favored in this respect. 
He is said to have passed through seven different incarnations, in all of 
which he destroyed the enemies of the human race. 

A MOHAMMEDAN. 

An Indian Mohammedan does not essentially differ from that of 
Turkey, being principally distinguished from a Hindu for' his restlessness 
under restraint of British rule. He is proud and arrogant, remembering 
when he was the conqueror of India and occupied the magnificent city 
of Delhi, as the capital of his great empire. This he still calls the city 
of the King of the World, in remembrance of one of the most powerful 
Mogul emperors of India. He looks upon the great mosque, built by 
another emperor, who quelled both Persians and Afghans and further 
solidified the cause of Mohammedanism, and then he scowls upon the 
Englishman. 

In Mohammedan eyes this mosque is one of the wonders of 
the world. It stands on a rocky height near the center of the city, 
being built on a paved platform. The mosque is approached by 
broad stone steps, is lined and faced with white marble, surmounted 
by three domes of the same material, striped with black, and having at 
each end of the front a high minaret. Scattered through and around 
the city are more than forty other mosques and tombs of the emperors 
and Mussulman saints. 

In the center of the Northwestern Provinces of British India is the 
province and city of Agra, once the capital of the Mogul Empire. Its 
ancient walls embraced an area of nearly twice that of the modern city. 
Within the English fort, which limits the latter, is the palace of a former 
Great Mogul, and a pearl mosque, while near the Jumna River, a short 



THE FAKIR. 267 

distance east, is the mausoleum erected for himself and wife upon which 
20,000 men were employed for twenty-two years. It is built in the form 
of an irregular octagon, is of white marble, and so lavishly decorated that 
the whole of the Koran is said to be written in precious stones on the 
interior walls. The tomb of another Mogul emperor is six m.iles from 
the city ; so that Agra is almost as much a lasting humiliation to the 
Mohammedan as Delhi itself. The Hindus greatly predominate, and 
venerate the city as the scene of one of Vishnu's incarnations. 

THE FAKIR. 

The Fakir of India is a re-appearance of the Dervish of Turkey, 
Persia and Arabia. It is an Arabian word, and this mendicant monk is 
much more of a Mohammedan than a Hindu. Mendicancy, with the 
accompaniment of personal degradation, is no part of Brahmanism 
There seems, how- 
ever, to be a cer- 
tain class of Fakirs, 
who are partial 
s u bs cr ib ers to 
Brahmanism, and 
who believe that, 
by great austerity, 
complete isolation 
and intense medi- 
tation, they may 
even obtain power 
over the invisible 
world; stories are 
related of mortals 
who have thus ex- 
p el led divinities 
from the very heav- 
ens. Some hide 
themselves in the 
woods, allowing 
their hair and nails to grow, and their bodies to become covered 
with filth until they are more repulsive than wild beasts. Others 
remain with their arms raised above their heads, or their bodies bent 
double, until they assume these positions permanently; or they go 
naked, sleeping upon the ground without shelter of any kind, never 
kmdling a fire, but using the excretions of cattle for food, considering 




ROYAL PALACE AT AGRA. 



268 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

this a holy act, since the cow is one of India's sacred animals. Another 
form of penance is to lay fire upon the scalp and allow it to burn to the 
bone ; to tie the wrists to the ankles, cover the body with filth, and then 
roll along, from village to village, begging and giving advice to the awe- 
stricken. Those who believe in a more passive kind of self-torture have 
been known to bury themselves in the ground and take their food and 
water through narrow tubes, for unmentionable periods. 

The primary requisite in a Fakir is, of course, abject poverty, and 
some of those who travel over the country wear robes rent into tatters, 
such as the Mussulmans fondly believe were worn by the prophets of 
old. They often carry a cudgel, a battle axe or a spear, on which are 
hung rags of various colors ; but it is said that these weapons are put to 
more wicked uses when the bearers meet travelers upon a lonely high- 
way. In the towns, they appear as religious teachers. The Fakir, who 
has a long chain attached to one leg, which he clanks as he prays> 
becomes a superior being before whom the superstitious Indians grovel 
and tremble, and to whom they come to be cured of their diseases. 

A PARSER. 

' In Hindustan his home is Bombay, the western capital of British 
India. In Persia, the native land of Zoroaster, whose follower he is, he 
is oppressed and degraded by the Mohammedans as a " guebre," or infi- 
del. There, also, he is wedded to the worship of fire, and has lost sight 
of its symbolic character. This is so to a great extent in Hindustan, 
temples being built over subterranean fires and sacred flames, which 
-Zoroaster is said to have brought from heaven. Priests tend the fire on 
altars, chanting hymns and burning incense. But the Parsee of India 
is not content to rest here, and a great effort is being made to restore 
the religion to its original purity ; to follow the simple faith of the Persian 
prophet to this end : — that the two principles of good and evil animate 
the universe.and are found in every created thing ; that the good is eternal 
and will prevail over the evil, and that God has existed from all eternity. 
From Bombay as a center the sect is increasing quite rapidly. Next 
to the Europeans, also, the Parsees have built not only some of the 
largest vessels in the service of the East India .Company, but have even 
constructed frigates and men-of-war. But, although commercially, politi- 
cally, intellectually and socially they take rank with the Europeans, and 
are adopting many Western customs, they have not yet abandoned their 
peculiar way of treating the dead. On the summit of Malabar Hill, the 
most fashionable suburb of the city, is the Parsee cemetery, walled and 
guarded. It contains five round towers, each about sixty feet in dia- 
meter and fifty feet in height and surmounted by a large grate. The 



A SIKH. 269 

bodies of the newly dead are placed upon these towers, and when the 
vultures have removed the flesh from the skeletons the bones fall through 
the grate into the inclosure beneath. 

Between the Indus and the Ganges, in Northwestern India, are a 
race of people called the Jats, who are supposed to be of a northern 
origin, either descendants of the Scythians or Huns. They are of the 
agricultural caste, are tall and robust, with clear-cut features, and the 
finest specimens of physical manhood in India. Besides leading in 
husbandry, their history has shown that they are second to no tribe as 
brave warriors. 

A SIKH. 

A Sikh is a Jat who has adopted the best portions of Mohammedan- 
ism and Brahmanism, The founder of the sect was of the warrior caste, 
who in his youth had been educated as a Hindu and afterwards was 
adopted by a Mohammedan dervish. He therefore imbibed the prin- 
ciples of both religions, and when he came to promulgate his own 
doctrines, toleration and the brotherhood of man were naturally its lead- 
ing tenets. Those whom he drew to his religious standard were called 
simply " Sikhs," or " disciples." His successors as heads of the sect were 
able and bold, and were looked upon as the arch enemies of both 
Mohammedanism and Brahmanism. One of them was tortured and put 
to death by the Mussulman government. 

Then commenced a fierce war against the Mohammedans. The 
Sikhs were driven into the mountains of the Northern Punjaub where 
they formed a state of a decidedly democratic turn. All caste was 
abolished. The Sikhs, irrespective of social standing, wore a blue dress. 
Every man was a soldier and constantly carried his steel blade. The 
contest against the Mohammedans was renewed, periodically, and the 
Sikhs became so powerful that the Shah took the field against them 
personally, and almost annihilated them. This was after they had fought 
the fight for conscience' sake, for two centuries. But fifty years there- 
after (1764) they had so recovered as to be able to drive the Afghans 
from the Punjaub, and for seventy-five years more existed as petty states 
and as one powerful kingdom, known as Lahore. The English subdued 
them, and they remained faithful to their conquerors during the Sepoy 
rebellion. A few states continue to be independent, situated in South- 
eastern Punjaub. 

THE HINDU FAMILY. 

As to the duties of the male and female heads of a Hindu household 
they do not essentially differ from those of the American husband and 
wife. From all accounts the women are usually models of economical 
management and the men are careful to lay in a month's supply of 



270 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



provisions at a time. In the upper and central provinces it is customary, 
at harvest, to buy a year's supply. 

Little Hindu children with their light brown skins, dark eyes and 
hair, acquiline noses, high foreheads and intelligent faces are sheltered, 
loved and educated with true devotion; to be without children is counted 
not only a misfortune, but a sin for which religious atonements are 
required. It is in the painful seclusion which the Hindu women suffer 
and in their separation from their older sons and their husbands that 
the difference between Eastern and Western households is mostly 
observed. 

The houses are so constructed that the court-yard is always reached 

through a tortuous passage way 
which is closed by a low door. 
There is an outer and an inner 
apartment, below. The rooms 
above are reached by small 
contracted staircases. 

Not satisfied with shut- 
ting them out from fresh air 
and sunshine, when meal time 
comes custom requires that 
the women shall eat separately 
from the men. ' In the morn- 
ing the children are served 
first, that they may go to school. 
Then the adult male members 
are favored, the mother and 
wife squatting with them on a 
bit of carpet. She sees that 
everybody is properly waited 
upon by the servants, and 
although she participates in 
the conversation she can not 
eat. The cooking is generally 
left to Brahman servants, but 
it is not uncommon for wealthy Hindu ladies to take a pride in preparing 
the evening meal of their sons and husbands. 

The Hindu woman is separated from her husband's elder brothers 
as by walls of adamant. She can not speak to her husband, or lift her 
veil, in the presence of her mother-in-law. In a word she is neither to be 
seen nor heard when elder members of the family are around. 

After the family have separated she changes her clothes and retires 




CLOTH VENDERS. 



A SONS BIRTH. 27 1 

to a room in which is the tutelar god, usually an image of Krishna made 
of stone and metal, placed on a gold or silver throne, upon which are a 
silver umbrella and household utensils dedicated to it She prostrates 
herself, invokes its blessing and takes her breakfast, which like all other 
meals is simple, consisting principally of vegetables, fish and milk ; then 
she enjoys a nap, chewing afterwards a mouthful of betel to color and 
strengthen her teeth. After she has changed her garments for secular 
robes she bathes, as a religious duty. If she is poor and lives near the 
Ganges, she goes to the sacred stream, and, as the sun rises and sets, 
washes her body and clothes at its banks. In the upper provinces, at all 
seasons of the year, hundreds of women can be seen daily walking toward 
its waters, with baskets of flowers upon their heads, chanting in chorus 
the praises of the sacred river of India. In the Hindu household, 
also, ladies are not permitted to participate in domestic occupations unless 
they bathe their bodies and change their garments, morning and after- 
noon. 

Morning and evening, also, the priest visits the house to worship 
its god, bless the members of the family and carry away the offerings of 
rice, fruits, sweetmeats and milk. For the support of the household 
god the Hindu sometimes sets apart an endowment fund of landed pro- 
perty. 

A SON'S BIRTH. 

The birth of a male child is announced by the sounding of a conch 
or large shell, and when the mother hears the welcome note she is con- 
vinced that she has been under the kind charge of the goddess Shashthi, 
who has charge of children. Her heart sings for joy; for she knows 
that a male child will be welcomed by her husband ; while, if the shell is 
mute, she raves in a double agony, for a little daughter is at first an 
interloper of the Hindu world. "The family barber bears the happy 
tidings of a son's birth to all the nearest relatives, and he is rewarded 
with presents of money and clothes. Oil, sweetmeats, fishes and curdled 
milk are presented to the relatives and neighbors, who, in return offer 
their' congratulations. A rich Hindu, though he study practical domes- 
tic economy very carefully is, however, apt to loosen his purse string at 
the birth of a son and heir. The mother forgetting her trouble and 
agony, implores Bidhata (the god of fate) for the longevity of the child." 

The goddess Shashthi is, on the sixth day after the great event, 
worshiped in front of the room where the child was born, the officiating 
priest making offerings of food and clothes. There are deposited in the 
mother's room a palm leaf, a pen and ink and a serpent's skin ; the arti- 
cles being to aid the god of fate in writing on the forehead of the child 



272 THE world's fair. 

its future destiny. On the eighth day, the children of the house and 
neighborhood, after being feasted, repair to the door of the room, beat- 
ing upon a fan with small sticks, asking, " How is the child doing ?" and 
shouting, upon a favorable reply being given, " Let it rest in peace on 
the lap of its mother." 

The boy has in the meantime been blessed by his father and rela- 
tives, gold coins (for good fortune) have been forced into his baby hands,, 
and he has been visited by the family astrologer, who has noted the day^ 
the hour and the minute of his birth and cast his horoscope. He maybe 
named after a god, which is common. If the child is a daughter, on the 
other hand, she may go through life, eventually loved and petted, but 
burdened with such a name as Ghyrna (despised). The ceremony of 
christening occurs when the child is six months old, upon which occa- 
sion it is fed with a little boiled rice which has been sanctified ; the baby 
being shaved, clad in a silk garment and adorned with gold ornaments^ 

HE GOES TO SCHOOL. 

The boy grows like other babies, and besides the care he receives 
from his parents may likewise be protected by a metal charm, which is 
strung upon a string tied around his loins. At the age of five, if the as- 
trologer pronounces the day propitious, the youngster is bathed, put in 
a new garment, and taken to the image of the goddess of learning, where 
the priest is again found waiting to intercede for him and bear away the 
offerings, as well as his own gift. He is then introduced to the master 
of the infant school, where he writes his letters upon the ground (five at 
a time) with a soft stone. As he advances, he writes upon palm leaves,, 
slate and paper, with a wooden pen and ink, and each step is marked by 
a gift of food, clothes and money made by his parents to the master, the 
regular fee being from one penny to three pence a month. Reading 
and a little arithmetic are also taught. 

To ensure an early attendance a master resorts to the practice of 
giving the first comer one rap with a cane, the second two, the third 
three, and the last boy, or a truant, is made to stand on one leg and 
hold out a brick in his right hand until he is completely exhausted. 
Another native mode of punishment is to apply the leaves of a stinging 
plant to the back of the naughty boy. 

When the boy is six years old, if his parents have become imbued 
with Western ideas and they can afford it, he is sent to one of the public 
schools of Calcutta, where he receives an education in both his own and 
the English language, and may eventually undergo a university training. 
But social and family duties may call him into other fields 



THE GIRLS EDUCATION. 



THE GIRL'S EDUCATION. 



273 



The education of the girl as a wife commences when she is little, 
more than a baby. When she is five years old she is not brought before, 
the goddess of learning, but before the goddess Doorga. This divinity, 
under the instruction of some elderly woman, the little girl represents, 
by two tiny images of clay, which she makes and sprinkles with water 
from the Ganges, repeating as the drops fall, "All homage to Siva"; 
this being the name of Doorga's model husband, whom she worshiped 
before and after marriage. The innocent child is then required to offer- 
flowers and leaves to the goddess, and flowers and sandal paste to Siva,, 
to the god and husband. To a supposed question from the god as to- 
her wishes, the baby replies that she desires the prince of the king* 
dom for her husband ; that she may be beautiful and virtuous and the 
mother of "seven wise and virtuous sons and two handsome daughters", 
that she may have good daughters-in-law and sons-in-law and a well-filled 
granary and farm-yard ; that her dear ones may enjoy long life and pros- 
perity and that she may eventually die on the banks of the sacred 
Ganges. 

Within the next few months the Hindu maiden makes various vows 
or " bratas," all accompanied by painting upon the floor with rice paste 
the images of gods, men, ornaments of gold and precious stones, houses 
and granaries, her prayer being for an affectionate husband, and only 
one. Her last performance (still a child of five years), after invoking a 
blessing from above, is to curse her possible rival of bed and board. 
The rival wife is called a "sateen," and she is to become "a slave," be 
exposed to infamy, have "her head devoured," and die — if she ever live ; 
but her prayer is to " never be cursed with a ' sateen' " — this is the life-, 
long prayer of a Hindu female from babyhood to old age, , 

MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. ' 

The girls are married at from eight to thirteen years of age — in the 
opinion of the Hindus, the earlier the better. At the age of seventeen 
or eighteen the boy is a subject for matrimony. Sometimes the children 
are pledged to each other in infancy, or the marriage may be arranged 
by professionals, called "ghatucks." 

The strongest point in favor of the youth, now-a-days, supposing that 
his social standing is good, is that he has passed successfully all the ex- 
aminations of the university and has been honored with a degree. The 
parents of such a boy demand of the parents of the girl that they shall 
be guaranteed a long list of gold ornaments, which constitute the 



2 74 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

wealth of the bride. The expense to the maiden's parents, who are de- 
termined to marry their daughter, is increased to almost a ruinous 
extent by many feasts both before and after marriage ; it is estimated that 
a tolerably respectable marriage will cost at least $i,ooo. The prelimi- 
naries having been arranged, the youth is examined in the presence of 
his future father-in-law and a university graduate as to his literary 
acquirements, and the girl is put through a course of questioning by 
relatives of the boy's family, after which, if all is well, a written agree- 
ment is drawn up, written by a Brahman on Bengallee paper with Ben- 
gallee pen and ink. This makes the document sacred and binding ; it 
must also consist of an odd number of lines. 

When the contract is signed and ratified, the females of the party 
sound two conch shells — one for the bridegroom and another for the 
bride. Subsequently the boy puts on a red bordered cloth, stands on a 
" grindstone surrounded by four plantain trees, while five women (one 
must be of the Brahman caste) whose husbands are alive, go around him 
five or seven times (an odd number is lucky), anoint his body with tur- 
meric, and touch his forehead at one and the same time with holy water, 
betel nuts, rice paste, and twenty other little articles." A bit of the tur- 
meric paste with which he has been anointed is sent by the family barber 
to the bride in a silver cup, and her body is also anointed with it. A 
long and ridiculous series of feasts and formalities precede the celebra- 
tion of the nuptials in the chamber of worship of the bride's house. 

The priest first ties around the bridegroom's fingers fourteen blades 
of grass, seven for each hand, pouring a little holy Ganges water into 
his" right ; this hand he holds while the father.-in-law repeats an incanta- 
tion. Rice, fiowers, grass, water and sour milk, with prayers intermixed, 
are showered upon the young man (figuratively speaking), and he is 
finally directed to put his hand into the copper pan of holy water which 
stands before the priest. Having done so, the priest places the hand of 
the bride on that of the bridegroom, and ties them together with a gar- 
land of flowers. The father-in-law gives his daughter away, naming, as 
he does so, the fine clothes and jewels which she wears. The bridegroom 
says : " I have received her"; after which the father-in-law unties the 
hands of the couple, pours holy water upon their heads and blesses 
them. 

The bride is all this time closely veiled, and has, in fact, never been 
seen by the bridegroom ; but now a silken cloth is thrown over their 
heads and, underneath it, they are asked to look at each other. Parched 
rice and grass are then offered to Brahma, and a small piece of cloth 
decorated with betel nuts, is tied to the scarf of the bridegroom and the 



FEMALE EDUCATION. 275 

silken garment of the bride — symbolic of a perpetual union. It would 
be tiresome to enumerate the successive steps which the young couple 
take before they are formally wedded, consisting of religious rites, feasts, 
practical jokes played upon them, little ceremonials calculated to bring 
them joy and allay their bashfulness, as well as actions on the part of the 
females which should not be described. 

FEMALE EDUCATION. 

The great obstacle in the way of elevating Hindu women, and 
thereby society, is the custom of withdrawing them not only from the 
world when they are married, but from all educational influences. In 
those parts of the country which have never been under the dominion of 
Mohammedan conquerors, this fact is not so evident. But they estab- 
lished themselves, and their peculiar ideas of preserving the virtue of 
woman, throughout the plains of the holy Ganges, from which they 
spread, more or less, over the whole country. Before their advent, 
education was prevalent to a considerable extent among women. 

Even in our days among the great tribes of the Punjaub and Rajpoo- 
tana, in the northwest, as well as among the Mahrattas, of the south- 
west, who are noted for their strength, intellectually and bodily, there 
are not a few accomplished and scholarly women. Formerly every 
respectable female of Rajpootana was instructed to read and write. One 
of the latter people, an excellent Sanskrit scholar, lately visited Calcutta, 
the center of modern education, and astonished all by her wonderful 
acquirements. And even in the Bengal districts, which are particularly 
Mohammedan, since the establishment of British power, Hindu women 
are making great advances. Many of them after they withdraw into the 
" zenana " (which corresponds to the Mohammedan harem) engage 
teachers to instruct them, not only in needle work, but in those branches 
which lay the foundation of an intellectual mind. Some of them have 
passed commendable examinations even in the University and Normal 
School of Calcutta. 

"THE ORDER OF MERIT." 

The hatred of polygamy, which is inculcated into the female's mind, 
almost from infancy, does not prevent its existence in Hindu society. 
Manu authorized it, as did God through Mohammed. Not only was 
it said that women had " no business with the text of the Veda" and " no 
evidence of law," but they must be held by their " protectors in a state 
of dependence"; and that the sateen may be brought into the house 



276 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



if a prior wife is childless for seven years, if she has lost all her children 
by the tenth year, if for ten years she has borne only daughters, or, if 
she speak unkindly, "without delay." Great teachers of Brahmanism 
have even added to the various pretexts by which the Hindu has carried 
polygamy into his household, despite the life-long protests of the woman. 

Polygamous Brahmans are known as "koolins," and native investi- 
gators, who have had the best oppcJrtunities to look into their family 
affairs, assert that their numerous marriages are made generally for pur- 
poses of worldly gain, or for bare support. When money is "required for 
themselves or wives they pounce upon their father-in-laws for it. "Among 
the Turks," says a Hindu author, "seraglios are confined to men of 
wealth, but here a Hindu Brahman, possessing only a shred of cloth and 
a piece of thread, keeps more than a hundred mistresses." The custom 
is furthermore said to be productive of crimes on the part of the women 
too horrible and unfit to relate, and from the abandoned wives and 
daughters of the koolins come most of the Hindu females of ill-repute. 
The parents of daughters who thus place their children in such jeopardy 
usually seek to have them married to Brahman koolins on account of 
the caste of the bridegroom and in order to keep up the honor of 
their families. The children of these marriages invariably remain with 
their mothers and are maintained by the relatives of these females. 
The pictures which have been drawn of the inner life of these harems 
are composed of constant quarreling between the wives on personal 
grounds and on account of their children, screaming and cursing, and 
forcibly expressed wishes by each that she may "eat the head" of the 
other, — viz., cause her death. Even separate cook rooms, separate 
apartments, and giving the same set of ornaments to each do not bring 
peace, especially if one of the wives has received the usual education of 
being taught to hate a rival. 

An attempt is being made by native reformers, with which Hindu- 
stan is swarming, to abolish the Order of Merit, as the koolin system 
was first known. The British Government was even memorialized to 
take a legislative hand in its destruction, but refused to interfere with the 
social customs of the nation. The practice of burning widows with the 
dead bodies of their husbands, which has been a most ancient custom, 
has been abolished within the limits of British India (which comprises 
two-thirds of the area and. five-sixths of the population of Hindustan), 
not by legislative enactment, but by gradually throwing many obstacles 
in the way of the horrible practice. 

It would never, in all likelihood, have had so long an existence, were 
it not for the pious austerity which Manu enjoins upon the widow, as 



A PATRIARCHS DEATH. 277 

a passport to paradise. She is to emaciate her body by living volun- 
tarily on pure flowers, roots and fruits, not pronounce the name of 
another man, and to abstain from the common pursuits of life. She may 
not even take part in any good work which will bring her into contact 
with society, but is expected to remain with her mother, or grandmother, 
perhaps in the holy city of Benares living upon one coarse meal a day, 
fasting regularly twice a month and upon every religious celebration ; 
to strip herself of even iron and gold bangles, earrings and bordered 
clothes ; is not permitted to daub her forehead with vermilion, and is 
denied every feminine pleasure. If she has not children to solace her, 
in despair she shaves her head and pines away neglected, or, recklessly 
severs every tie, throws behind her all feminine honor and leads the 
worst life of which a Hindu woman is capable. 

A PATRIARCH'S DEATH. 

A Hindu family is patriarchal in its composition, husband and wife, 
sons, daughters and daughters-in-law dwelling under the same roof. 
Their own daughters may be married, also, as on account of the tender 
age of Hindu husbands their wives usually live at home for several years, 
and during this period the father-in-law is expected to support them all. 
When the head of the household therefore takes to his bed, laying aside 
all considerations as to natural affection, it is a season of great anxiety, 
and when the native physician announces that he is no more destined to 
have rice and water, torrents of grief are released from the men, women 
and children. 

If possible, the sick man is borne on a cot to the banks of the Gan- 
ges and is told to look upon the sacred stream, and as he opens his eyes 
he sees scores of bodies, in all stages of life and death, brought thither 
to be stamped with the sacred seal. The person who is thus hurried to 
the Ganges is often entrusted to the care of servants, who, if he persist 
in living, " get tired of their charge and are known to resort to artificial 
means, whereby death is actually accelerated. They unscrupulously pour 
the unwholesome muddy water of the river down his already choked 
throat, and, in some cases, suffocate him to death. The process of Hindu 
'antarjal,' or immersion, is another name for suffocation. 

' In the case of an old man the return home after ' immersion ' is 
infamously scandalous, but in that of an aged widow the disgrace is more 
poignant than death itself. Scarcely any effort has ever been made to 
suppress or even to ameliorate such a barbarous practice, simply because 
religion has consecrated it with its holy sanction." The above are the 
words of a former Brahman, Avho has seen the errors of his native religion. 



278 



THE world's fair. 



He instances cases in which the aged of both sexes were returned to 
their homes, after they had undergone this murderous process a dozen 
times ; anxious to die, having looked upon the Ganges, but unable to 




pass away, so vital is the spark of life. Disgraced beings, they dragged 
on a miserable existence, and one of them, a widow, at length drowned her- 
self in the divine river.which is thought to flow from the throne of the gods. 



THE SACRED CITY. 270 

If the man dies, with the names of the gods whispered in his ears 
by his attendants, his body is burned at the Nimtollah Ghaut, the most 
noted river terrace at Benares, the son setting fire to the pile, if he 
luckily is present. A portion of the body, which is not burned, is 
thrown into the Ganges, and the funeral pile is watered from the 
sacred stream, the son also bathing in it. Upon returning to the stricken 
home, he is greeted by the doleful cries of the females who are beating 
their breasts and tearing their hair. 

For a month the son goes unshaved, with unpared finger nails, 
dresses in a simple white garment and lives upon a very slender diet. 
To fully carry out Hindu regulations, consisting of presents of money, 
brass pots, silver utensils, sweetmeats and sugar, to the Brahmans, the 
Pundits (professors), and so on down the grade of castes, with special 
entertainments, after the funeral, to the Brahmans, the " Kayastas " 
(writers) and other classes, a fortune is required. A late Rajah of 
Calcutta celebrated the demise of his illustrious father at an expense of 
$250,000. At the funeral services the distribution of garlands, accord- 
ing to caste, is an important feature of the proceedings and the cause 
of bitter jealousies. The *'Gooroo," or spiritual guide, and the " puno- 
hit," officiating priest, are always most honored, the only question being 
as to how much. 

At the feasts given to the Brahmans, and others, the guests place 
themselves on grass seats in long rows, in the court yard, and if the 
householder is wealthy they do not commence to eat until the number 
reaches two or three hundred. Each guest is provided with a piece of 
plaintain leaf and an earthen plate, and upon these receptacles are 
placed the fruits and sweetmeats. In spite of the utmost vigilance 
Hindus of the lower castes, decently dressed but poor, and willing to 
strive after a free lunch, often enter the court yard and obtain shares 
destined for the privileged class. They are not killed, however, as of 
yore, but are simply ejected ; and, says a native, " some of the Brah- 
mans who are invited do not scruple to take a portion home,' regardless 
of the contaminated touch of a person of the lowest order, simply be- 
cause the temptation is too strong to be resisted." 

THE SACRED CITY. 

Next to the river, Benares is the natural object of the Hindus 
greatest veneration. Ruins found in the vicinity of the city, of palaces, 
mosques and temples, indicate that there was a Benares of far greater 
antiquity than th^ present; the Hindus believe it to have been founded 



28o 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



at the creation of the world. To die within its Hmits is to be sure of 
heaven. The waters of the Ganges are far hoHer in Benares than else- 
where. Along the terraced river-side fires are continually burning, on 
which smolder the bodies of the recent dead. Sacred bulls roam through 
its narrow streets, and from the temples dedicated to Doorga, troop 
forth hundreds of sacred yellow monkeys. 





THE JAPANESE. 



HE native of Japan is a modification of the Mongol type as 
seen in the Chinese. He has eyes which are set less obliquely 
than those of his southern cousin ; but his eyebrows are heavy, 
his face oval, his forehead high and his complexion is not uni- 
form at all. He has even been classed as a Malayan, who in 
his bold voyages over every Asiatic sea settled in the " Land 
of the Rising Sun " and adopted the Mongol, or was by him 
adopted, the two forming the Japanese type. 

The native of this empire, since his country has been un- 
locked to the outside world, is commencing to be known and 
appreciated as an intelligent, animated, enterprising gentleman ; but it has 
long been a wonder how so mild and good-humored a people as they 
evidently are, can live under so sanguinary a code of laws. Death is 
the one general penalty. They are a proud people, though they 
acknowledge a supreme ruler, a spiritual monarch, the Mikado, who 
makes their laws. There is no middle class. 




GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION. 



The government is the Mikado and the hereditary princes who 
form the imperial cabinet and govern the principalities of the empire. 
Japan allows no competitive examination for appointment to the civil 
service as the Chinese do, but all power is inherited. And not alone are 
the lines of caste so strictly drawn that it is only lawful for men of rank 
to enter a city on horseback ; but so proud a people as the Japanese sub- 
mit to a system of espionage which runs through every grade of society. 
These and other burdens to which they cheerfully submit are perhaps 
borne for the sake of their religion, which is so woven into the structure 
of their government that to tear at the fibres of one would be to injure 
the other. 

The Mikado is the spiritual head of Shintoism, or their ancient and 
national religion, the essence of their worship being reverence for their 
ancestors and sacrifice to departed heroes ; and the great aim of their 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



religion is obedience to the edicts of the government. The three great 
commandments issued by the Department of Religion a few years ago, 
and intended to be the basis of a reformed Shinto, are as follows : — - 
" Thou shalt honor the gods and love thy country ; thou shalt clearly 
understand the principles of heaven and the duty of man ; thou shalt 
revere the Emperor as thy sovereign and obey the will of his court." 

The Shinto temples are made of pure wood called "sunwood," and 
in them are seen mirrors and strips of white paper, emblems of self- 
examination and purity. The sun and moon are worshiped. Cleanli- 
ness of person and cheerfulness of heart are cardinal virtues. The 

heroes of the country are canonized and 
worshiped, the most popular of the minor 
deities being the god of war, one of their 
brave emperors. The forms of worship 
are simple: "The devotee approaches 
under the gateways until within a short 
distance of the door. He then stops, 
flings a few coins in the box or on the 
floor, folds his hands in a posture of rev- 
erence, mutters his prayers and departs." 
Buddhism,however,is the popular religion 
of Japan, while many of the higher classes 
reject all worship of idols and accept 
the Confucian philosophy of life and mo- 
rality. But the Mikado cares not what 
religion is professed so long as they 
acknowledge his divinity ; whence has come about the persecution of 
Christians — not because they held to any distasteful religious belieis, 
but because their creed made them rebels to the government. 

THE CORNER-STONE OF SOCIETY. 

Among the Chinese, politeness is inculcated as the outward mani- 
festation of an equable and moral character; with the Japanese polite- 
ness is scarcely distinguishable from morality itself, and actions are 
looked upon as bad if they grate upon their keen sensibilities. Eti- 
quette is the study of rich and poor. It is a great science, clearly 
defined, systematized and taught in the school from divers text books. 
Five years of study, among the educated classes, are devoted to it, both 
theoretically and practically, and until Japanese scholars and the Japan- 
ese government brought back from England and America a knowledge 
of modern institutions and countries, the scope of the higher education 




A JAPANESE. 



THE CORNER-STONE OF SOCIETY. 



283 




A NOBLE LADY. 



covered the ground of Confucian classics, social and court forms and Jap- 
anese and Chinese history. But, although the scope has been enlarged, 
etiquette is still the polished corner-stone of 
Japanese society and the japanning is carried over 
the lower structure Itself, so that even the servants 
and coolies bow and bend to one another and use 
a formal and courtly language which would even 
give pleasure to a Lord Chesterfield. The contrast 
between the Eastern forms of etiquette and those 
of the West is too well known to warrant an ex- 
pansion of the theme. One peculiar form of Jap- 
anese table etiquette, however, has not often been 
exposed. When a cup of rice, beer or tea has been 
emptied at a feast, it is quite a delicate mark of 
attention for the "guest who desires more to throw 
it across the table to a brother guest, who, in turn, 
hands it to the damsel in waiting. If one desires to 
introduce himself to another at a banquet the proper 
way is to offer his cup to the person whom he wishes to know ; if the guest 
would honor him with his acquaintance he drinks and returns the cup. 
The Japanese are the greatest eaters of marine animals in the 

world, and their fish markets 
are found everywhere. Raw 
fish is even a favorite article 
of food. River, lake and 
sea are frequented by thou- 
^__ .Tm^MMMiMi ^M^MMM ^^^<^s of fishermen and 

f flHiHiiB^^^lS^^^P iml^Hi women. Many of the latter 

are expert divers, remaining 
in the water for hours and 
swimming for long distances 
with heavy bags of shell-fish 
on their shoulders. No meal 
would be complete without 
fish. 

" The visitor is always 
served with tea, sweetmeats 
laid on white paper on a 
tray and a little bowl with a 
live coal in it to light his pipe with. It is etiquette to carry away the 
remnants of the cake or candy, folded up in the paper and put in 




SELLING MARINE ANIMALS. 



284 THE world's fair. 

the wide sleeve. Meat, venison, poultry, game and large vegetables 
are cut or sliced before being brought on the table. Food is eaten out of 
lacquered wooden bowls and porcelain cups, chop-sticks taking the place 
of the knife and fork. A feast is accompanied by music and dancing 
and the last of the merry courses is rice and tea." 

MARRIAGE AND WOMEN'S DUTIES. 

The Japanese do not approve of such early marriages as most of 
the Orients — twenty years for the man and sixteen for the woman are 
considered proper ages. Betrothals are not entirely in the hands of 
parents, either. The young man himself, when he desires to marry, sends 
a third party, it is true, to arrange the affair ; but it is usually one of his 
married friends, and he is seldom rushed into matrimony without having 
had a chance to meet the lady. The will of the parents has its weight, 
but it is not supreme as in Corea and China. When the wedding day 
has been fixed, the trousseau of the bride and her wedding gifts are sent 
to the house of the groom. They are followed by the little woman her- 
self, dressed in white, borne in a palanquin and escorted by her parents. 
The gayly attired bridegroom receives her, escorts her to the hall, 
where before the altar of the domestic gods, decorated with images and 
symbolic plants, they are betrothed and married by the same ceremony. 
No priest is in attendance, but the forms are simple and touching, the 
final one consisting in the young couple drinking together from a two- 
mouthed bottle, thereby pledging themselves to drain the waters of life 
together. 

The above is a mere outline of the formalities required by Japanese 
society to unite a couple in marriage. To conscientiously observe them 
all is to incur a greater expense than many of the people can bear. It 
is therefore a favorite plan, in order to evade these responsibilities, for 
the youth and maiden to collude with the parents and feign a runaway 
match in which the ceremony is necessarily brief and inexpensive. 

The education of women in all the walks of life consists, almost 
entirely, in forming her into an expert housewife. The Woman's 
Great Study is an immense volume, which may be said to contain the 
national standard of excellence toward which all females are instructed to 
strive. Obedience to parents, husband, and if a widow, to the eldest 
son, is the grand injunction. The study of etiquette, which is such an 
important part of popular education, does not cease during the lifetime 
of the Japanese lady. There are few more affectionate mothers than 
the Japanese. They treat their children as infants until they are two 
years of age, carrying them constantly with them. 



DRESS AND PERSONAI- ADORNMENT. 



285 



DRESS AND PERSONAL ADORNMENT. 



A very short time ago it was considered the height of temerity for 
a foreigner to travel outside of the five open ports of Yokohama, Naga- 
saki, Hiogo, Niegati and Hokodadi. The danger did not come from 
the hostility of the common people so much as from the jealousies of the 
princes and nobles of the empire. Although they have become recon- 
ciled to the existence of another order of civilization than their own, it 
is still best to engage the services of a native policeman, especially if 
one is about to venture into the streets of a large city. This functionary, 
in uniform, resembles a gaunt woman with a gaudy umbrella tied to her 
head, dressed in a loose jacket and skirt and armed with two swords 
carried underneath the outer garment. If the 
yakonin is mounted, in masculine fashion of 
course, his appearance is all the more ludicrous. 
Should the journey be a long one he would be 
escorted by runners, naked except for a cloth 
around the loins. From a distance this latter 
statement would scarcely be credited, for the en- 
tire bodies of the escorts are tattooed, being 
often covered with figures representing jackets 
and breeches, seamed and checked, with buttons 
and all. So, supposing that the services of the 
yakonin have been engaged, the stranger pro-j 
ceeds to examine the costumes and personal ap-j 
pearance of the Japanese, whether old or young, 
high or low. 

Japanese women have become noted for 
their striking and coquettish dress. They take 
especial pride in arranging their glossy hair, it being usually divided 
into three great sections, fastened with large ornamental pins or pretty 
ribbons. Both sexes wear a large open dressing gown, the women cross- 
ing it in front and tying it behind with an enormous sash. As the little 
women trot along in their wooden sandals, they are truly pleasing objects 
to contemplate. A lady of high standing is often attired in a garment 
of rich silk, beautifully decorated with flowers and vines, wearing over 
her shoulders a sack or shawl of plain but rich material. 

That hideous practice, which was formerly well-nigh universal, by 
which women above twenty years of age, and all who were married, 
shaved off their eyebrows and blackened their teeth, is gradually dying 
out. The reform originated at court twenty years ago and is rapidly 




A JAPANESE GIRL. 



286 



THE world's fair. 



spreading. The custom was rooted in the Oriental idea that a married 
woman belonged, body and soul, to her husband ; and her husband chose 
to make her unattractive, to the outside world at least. The Japanese 
maiden, wife and widow, are now distinguishable in society by the style 
of their coiffure. If it were not for the immoderate use of paint the 
women would be as attractive as those of any country, with their glossy 
dark brown hair, oval faces, slender graceful forms, and elegant manners. 
In the young, the natural complexion is seen to be fair, and when a lady 
of the upper class who is not exposed to the weather, leaves all her 
paint in the box, she often appears with a face as white as a European's. 
Usually, head coverings are not worn, except broad screens to keep 

off sun and rain, and a simple cloth 
cap and face protector in winter. 
Oiled paper or straw overcoats are 
worn in rainy weather, and the fan is 
carried by men and women. Loose 
trousers are the distinguishing mark 
of the nobility, but the hideous panta- 
loons formerly worn at court, which 
completely covered the wearer's feet 
and spread out far to the side, and 
the upper garment with its enormous, 
flapping sleeves, have given place to 
European attire. The higher classes, 
however, have their rank indicated 
by the crest of the family or clan, 
which is worked upon the breast and 
back of the outer robe. The carrying 
of swords — two or more for the no- 
bility, and one for the common people — is a custom which is quite 
obsolete. 

The higher class of medical practitioners, such as the court physi- 
cians, shave their heads completely, as do the priests ; but the common 
masculine fashion is to shave off the hair about three inches in front, 
comb it up from the back and sides and glue it into a tuft at the top of 
the head, where it is confined by pins of gold or tortoise shell. 




FORMER NOBLEMAN AND SERVANT. 



AMUSEMENTS. 

The Japanese have not the staid, placid dispositions of the Chinese. 
They are more light-hearted, and even at table often enliven the simple 
courses with music upon the guitar. Tokio has a permanent fair, and 



JUGGLERS AND ACROBATS. 287 

here may be witnessed the diverse forms of amusement \7hich tickle the 
lively minds of these people. In the center is an immense temple, sur- 
rounded by groves and tea houses. A wide, well-paved road, which 
passes through the grounds, is planted to maples and covered with mer- 
chants who squat upon their mattresses and proclaim the virtues of their 
goods. One has a heap of dead rats beside him — he sells rat poison. 
Another fondles the head and claws of a bear — he vends bear grease, 
for the skin. Bank lotteries, stereoscopes and telescopes are temptingly 
displayed for trial. The astrologer and the professional story-teller and 
news-agent are also here. The latter tells about the last murder and the 
way in which the villain was punished, and for a little money distributes 
leaflets containing the account to his auditors, that they may bear the 
exciting tale to absent ones. 

JUGGLERS AND ACROBATS. 

The uproar of the crowd is pierced with the cries, songs and dis- 
sonance of the mountebanks, players and jugglers ; they are balancing 
sticks, swallowing swords, whirling bottles and cups, making flowers 
grow from nothing, crushing birds and reviving them, breaking eggs and 
bringing cart loads of silks from them, and the climax of every wonder 
is being made more startling by the shrill note of fife, the clang of drum 
or the rattle of tambourine in the hands of able assistants. The music 
is not calculated to educate one's taste, but rather to distract the atten- 
tion of the lynx-eyed native at critical points. 

A group of Japanese acrobats, who perform beneath a great shed 
on the fair grounds, draw an immense crowd as they do everywhere. 
Their balancing poles are very long false noses, upon which children 
may perch with safety, or stand thereon upon their own shorter />rodos- 
cides. Another difficult trick is where the performer places an e^^ 
upright on his forehead and upon the e^^ balances a saucer. Juggling 
tricks as performed by native geniuses are simply miraculous — until 
you know how they are done. The common manner of applause is to 
strike the palm of the left hand with the closed fan, this action being 
accompanied with a slight cry of satisfaction. 

THE NOBILITY OF GLADIATORS. 

This subdued applause is impossible, however, when the ponderous 
feats of the Japanese wrestlers are under review. The contests take 
place in circuses. In the centre is the ring, a platform slightly elevated 
and surrounded by a double pile of straw sacks. The wrestlers, who are 



288 THE world's FAIR. 

usually mountains of avoirdupois, divide into companies and squat around 
the ring. The master of ceremonies, armed with his fan of command, 
calls a rival from each company, and the two giants are loudly applauded 
as they raise their arms above their heads to salute the immense audience. 
Then, sprinkling grains of rice and drops of water about the arena, which 
is covered with gravel, in order to propitiate the god of gladiators, they 
moisten their limbs, rub some sand between their hands to insure a 
firm grasp, and rush at each other like mad bulls. The object of the 
conflict is, by blows or by clinching, to expel each other from the ring. 

From the middle of the seventh century, when Japan was favored 
with its first Mikado, these gladiators have been an honored class, 
proudly tracing their descent through a line of more or less illustrious 
ancestors. The nobility of Japan, even, do not disdain their acquaint- 
ance ; in fact, the leaders of the wrestlers once wore swords, a sign of 
nobility. The wrestlers themselves are members of a great organiza- 
tion, presided over by their king or acknowledged champion. Each 
province furnishes its quota of athletes, who form a minor society whose 
head is the champion of the province. Every professional must be in- 
corporated with some society and be content with a salary, the cham- 
pion, on the other hand, drawing from the proceeds of the entertain- 
ments and being responsible to the king only. The Mikado fixes the 
length of time during which the companies shall exhibit at the principal 
towns. 

THE THEATRE. 

Open-air theatricals and exhibitions of puppets are favorite forms of 
amusement with the poorer classes, the more wealthy people attending 
regular theatres. The play commences at sunrise, crowds of tradesmen, 
clerks and prosperous artisans hastening toward the doors of the theatre, 
with their gaily dressed wives and children. A lady of the nobility occa- 
sionally slides in {incognito), but her husband can not attend even in 
disguise. There is no law against such enjoyment, but he would thereby 
seriously imperil his standing in society. 

The wife of the well-to-do tradesman appears, however, in her true 
colors. She even commenced to prepare for this enjoyable event the 
evening before. The hair-dresser built a tower upon her head, and 
during the night she could not even turn upon her block of wood. Upon 
the morrow she arose, bathed, washed her neck, shoulders and arms with 
milk-starch ; blackened her eyebrows with a pencil ; coated her lips with 
a golden preparation which afterwards turned to vermilion ; decked her- 
self with silken robes, confined by a sash which was twisted around the 
hips and tied behind in a great bow — then eating a light breakfast with 



THE THEATRE. 



her husband and child, and providing them with other refreshments which 
might be required, she was prepared to be borne away to the theatre in 
her palanquin. 

The performance may last fifteen hours, or forty-five, but after hav- 
ing bought their tickets, hired their cushions and procured their pro- 
grammes at an adjoining tea house, the family are prepared to give them- 
selves up entirely to pleasure, notwithstanding that there are other head- 
dresses in all portions of the great hall as obstructing to the view as our 
lady's. In the center of the theatre is a small platform occupied by a 
special policeman. The stage stretches across one side of the hall 
and the orchestra of drums, flutes and three-stringed guitars is in front, 

to the left. Galleries run 
around the hall,the ground 
floor being divided into- 
square boxes by wooden, 
partitions. Two boarded 
platforms run from the 
stage on either side to the 
opposite end of the hall,, 
and along these pathways, 
the actors make their en- 
trances and exits. The 
play of several hours or 
several days is almost en- 
tirely pantomime, a choir 
of singers and an ear- 
splitting orchestra keep- 
ing up a constant din. 
But hour after hour the happy natives applaud a favorite actor, a melo- 
dramatic representation or even a gesture, partaking of refreshments, 
which are handed to them by waiters who walk along the ledges of the 
wooden partitions, the men constantly lighting their small copper pipes at 
the little brazier, or pan of live coals, which stands In the middle of each 
box. 

The stage turns upon a pivot, so that as one set of actors passes out 
of sight a new lot, already gesticulating, posturing, groaning, laughing, 
scowling and otherwise using the universal language, comes before the 
audience. But by far the most unique feature of Japanese theatricals is 
embodied in the " Shadow." " He Is clothed entirely in black, wears a 
black cowl, and stands close behind the actor, off of whom he never takes. 
his eye for an instant, and whose every movement he follows as though. 




RIDING IN A PALANQUIN. 



290 



THE world's fair. 



he were his reflection. He hands him all the little accessories he is in 
need of, and places a small stool at the right moment for him to sit upon 
and prevent the inconvenient posture of squatting. The eye can not at 
first accustom itself to this black form stalking so silently about the 
boards ; but in a theatre all is so conventional that the quaint impression 
soon wears away, and, once admitted, this shadow certainly fills a most 
useful part. Amongst other services, when the day wanes he holds a 
lighted candle at the end of a stick under the nose of the actor to 
render his gestures and features distinguishable." 

BATHING AND TEA HOUSES. 

The bath in Japan is what it was in Rome in the ancient days, 
-with this difference — that in the Eastern Empire both sexes formerly 
performed their ablutions in common. Of late years, however, the 

practice has been prohibited. 
Although contrary to all 
Western ideas of propriety, 
the subsequent conduct of 
maidens who daily repaired 
to the public house was mod- 
est and ladylike. The cus- 
tom was one of great an- 
tiquity, and as whole streets 
were devoted to bathing 
houses and they were na- 
tional institutions, supported 
by father, son, mother and 
daughter, so far as might be 
judged by outsiders, the cus- 
tom was not productive of 
lamentable results. 

Nearly each house of 
the upper classes has at- 
tached to it, also, private bathing rooms, but they are often unused. 
Hot-water baths are considered as necessary to a Japanese as eating 
or sleeping ; so that besides his morning bath he goes through a course 
of parboiling later in the day. As he is religiously opposed to wetting 
his head, he is frequently stricken with apoplexy before he leaves his 
little leather tub and the gossiping and laughing crowd of men who 
frequent the bathing hall. 

Next to the bathing hall the tea house is the most popular of 




INTERIOR OF A TEA HOUSE. 



EUROPEAN HABITS. .29 1 

resorts. In the cities, in the suburbs, far out into the country, the tea 
houses spring from the most picturesque locaHties. Upon public road 
they often reach the dignity of hotels ; in retired country nooks they 
descend to mere huts of wood and paper, covered with a thatched roof, 
but snug and inviting, notwithstanding. In establishments of any pre- 
tensions young girls wait upon customers, who sit cross-legged upon 
soft mats and slowly sip their bowls of tea. By calling for them they 
also will be served with rice, brandy, eggs or fish. The saddest phase 
of Japanese life is seen in another class of tea houses, called " Joro-jas." 
They are frequented by night, the entrances being guarded by wooden 
gratings. Beyond are halls lighted sufficiently with paper lanterns for 
any passer-by to discern the richly attired young girls squatting together 
in a group for inspection, like so many bedizened wax dummies. They 
range from fourteen to twenty years of age, and their beautiful jet 
black hair is artistically arranged and ornamented with yellow tortoise 
shells. Within are beautiful gardens and pavilions, and Japanese 
musicians and dancers, some of them mere children, who have been sold 
into slavery by poor parents. 

EUROPEAN HABITS. 

The rapid changes which the Japanese are undergoing from native 
to European civilization are best illustrated by a glance at Yeddo, or as 
it has been known for many years Tokio, the capital of the empire. Its 
settled districts, with beautiful gardens and groves, wide streets and 
canals, cover an area of nearly sixty square miles. Tokio lies in a broad 
valley, which slopes toward the waters of the Bay of Yeddo. All around 
are wooded hills and the cypress, palm, bamboo and evergreen oaks 
spring up on every side. Charming suburbs, with snug hedgerows and 
shady lanes, nestle around the bustling city, which is itself broken into 
magnificent parks adorned with artificial lakes, pavilions, and temples 
■which are used for civil as well as religious purposes. The very heart 
of the city is a bewildering succession of these temple gardens, and 
here is the official quarter, which comprises an area of five square miles 
surrounded by a triple line of fortifications and containing the former 
palaces of the nobles. These great structures, as well as the castle of 
the Tycoon (who was formerly the real ruler of Japan), are built on the 
summit of a range of hills. Massive walls and gateways, macadamized 
roads, deep moats in which are myriads of wild fowl, with groups of 
buildings standing upon bold elevations, green slopes, overhanging 
groves, and everything which the fine artistic sense of the Japanese 
mind, aided by nature, can suggest, combine to make this district of 




t 

292 



EUROPEAN HABITS. 293 

the city one of the most alluring spots in the world. The residences of 
the daimios surrounded the palace of the Tycoon, but with his degrada- 
tion and the entrance of foreigners to the empire many of the nobles 
deserted their homes and retired in disgust to the country. Space 
which was formerly monopolized by such useless magnificence is now 
covered with government buildings, cotton, woolen and paper mills, 
colleges, schools, arsenals and foundries. In the imperial university are 
100 foreign instructors, and the schools and colleges are attended by 
60,000 or 70,000 pupils. The youth of the land are bright and ambi- 
tious, as several of the universities of America know full well. 

Elementary schools are being established throughout the empire ; 
the law of 1872 providing for 53,000 of them. Forty per cent, of the chil- 
dren of school age are receiving instruction, and among the youth and 
manhood of the land the fever to imbibe European ideas is at its 
height. Not only are the higher schools and colleges thronged, but 
private tutors of standing are besieged on all sides. One of these mas- 
ters at Tokio is an author of political and social works and a translator 
from the best Western writers. His students already fill many important 
government offices, and others have established a newspaper which 
vigorously criticises all public acts. Throughout Japan there are 
between 300 and 400 newspapers and periodicals, and school books, and 
works on political, scientific, ethical, historical and poetical subjects are 
constantly issuing from the press. 

Outside of the district which may be considered as under the im- 
mediate patronage of the Mikado and the government, is the business 
and residence territory. Within this are miles of stone and brick build- 
ings in the modern style of architecture, with miles more of open booths. 
A horse vehicle is not so great a wonder in Tokio as in other portions 
of the empire, and carts piled high with goods of all descriptions are 
being dragged through the streets in endless procession. Bathhouses, fire- 
proof warehouses, mounted policemen ; natives in black coats and leather 
shoes as well as in native costume ; newspaper offices using the metal 
types and running off their sheets on cylinder presses ; telegraph wires, 
connecting not only the police districts, but the other chief cities of the 
empire with the capital ; locomotives running to Yokohama, the foreign 
mercantile settlement seventeen miles away, and others nowbuilding to run 
over longer lines ; sewing and knitting machines and banks are thrown 
together — the old and the new brought together in striking contrast. 
But sufficient is seen to place the Japanese in the list of decidedly pro- 
gressive and remarkable people. 

In one of the most thickly settled districts of Tokio is a massive 



294 THE world's FAIR. 

wooden bridge spanning the river Okawa. It is not a remarkable en- 
gineering achievement and only interesting as being the center of the 
empire and the point from which distances are reckoned — so many ri 
(two and one-half miles) from the " Nipon-bas," as the bridge is called, 
north or south. 

Tokio is the most noteworthy illustration of the spread of European 
ideas ; for here are manufactured from foreign models such articles as 
watches, clocks, globes, thermometers, barometers, microscopes, tele- 
scopes, knives, spoons, looking-glasses, rugs, carpets, clothing, etc.; but 
in all the large cities and towns, the new is crowding out the old, and 
even pickles, condensed milk, fancy soap, patent medicines, wines and 
brandies, are swinging into line. 

UNWORTHY OF JAPAN. 

Legalized suicide is an institution peculiar to China and Japan. It 
is called "harri-kari" in the latter empire, and the mode of legalized 
procedure is to disembowel one's self with a sharp knife ; this is pecul- 
iarJy Japanese. Efforts are being made to suppress the disgrace, which 
is still a hideous instrument employed by cruel and autocratic daimios to 
punish those who have offended them ; the unfortunates are ordered to 
commit harri-kari, and such is the power which the princes often have 
over their subjects, that the self-murder is generally committed. On the 
other hand, it is often considered a privilege of which the nobility them- 
selves take advantage. 

STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE. 

The common Japanese houses have frameworks of wood, to which 
are fastened reeds or bamboo, and the interstices filled with mud, with 
wooden door and window frames covered with paper, broad eaves and a 
veranda running completely around. The rain doors, or outer shut- 
ters, protect the inner ones during stormy weather. Within are paper 
partitions, which can be slid out of sight, and the whole house thrown 
into a hall to accommodate the pleasure-seeking people. No house is 
without its gem of a garden. It matters not how tiny it is, the ground 
is laid out in beautiful groves of dwarf shrubs which surround miniature 
lakes, little streams over which green arches are thrown to represent 
bridges, or leafy bowers which would scarcely accommodate a company 
of Lilliputians. The houses are often loaded with blue lilies and other 
flowers, while these artificial landscapes are enclosed with bamboo fences 
over which creep trailing vines and plants. 



WITHIN THE HOUSE. 295 

The palaces of the nobiHty are simply several of these houses, 
united by corridors of stone or wood, roofed over Avith cement, and sur- 
rounded by a continuous rampart of smaller whitewashed structures, in 
which the domestics reside. The Mikado's palace is a "yashki" of larger 
dimensions, comprising many courts and streets, and scores of houses, 
pavilions and corridors, with beautifully varnished, gilded and sculptured 
roofs. 

When the sound of the tocsin is heard from the fire tower there is 
naturally great alarm ; for fires in all the cities of Japan are destructive. 
It is estimated that Tokio is burned all over once every seven years. 
When the flames fairly get a headway the most that can be done is to 
pull down a great area of buildings, and remove the goods in their imme- 
diate pathway to the nearest fire-proof warehouse. This is shaped like 
a tower, built of wood and encased with cement or mud, sometimes a 
foot in thickness. The doors and windows are built of the same mate- 
rial, are closed upon the approach of a conflagration and the cracks plas- 
tered up with mud. Candles have been lighted inside to convert the 
oxygen of the air into carbonic acid gas, so that the building is made 
absolutely fire proof. These warehouses, or low towers, are also used 
upon the approach of the typhoon or hurricane. 

Fire, wind and earthquake are the three forces of nature with which 
the Japanese are obliged to contend, and their houses, which are seldom 
more than thirty feet in height, are constructed with reference to the 
latter. If they are two stories high, the second is built more substan- 
tially than the first (experience has taught them that this is the safer 
plan) — the upper one comprising the living rooms and the lower the 
cellar for the storage of provisions. 

WITHIN THE HOUSE. 

The same delicacy of taste and sense of propriety are noticed in 
the interior as in the exterior arrangements. Simplicity, cleanliness, 
harmony of design and coloring, and comfort are the uppermost feat- 
ures. Thick m.ats of rice straw cover the floor, over which members 
of the family walk barefooted. Writing is done by kneeling before a 
table about a foot high When the letter is finished the table is put 
away in a cupboard. The family eat sitting on their heels around a 
small table. After dinner every person takes a nap of several hours 
In the evening comes another meal, and after the table is cleared men, 
women and children produce their pencils, brushes, paints and papers, 
and give exhibitions of their skill. The height of the artist's ambition 
is not so much to excel in delineating Nature's moods as to draw and 



296 



THE world's fair. 



paint in the most surprisingly ingenious methods. He will put in ahead 
here, a tail there, a tree in one corner, a house in another, a leg in the 
air, an arm beneath, an eye glancing out of space, and when all have 
tired themselves in guessing what it all can mean, a few rapid strokes of 
pencil and brush will join everything together and form a tolerable 
picture. 

Other games succeed the artistic efforts, and they are enjoyed by 
son, father, grandfather, even to the fourth generation ; and the same 
universal love of diversion is witnessed out of doors, where the natives 
fly kites and indulge in feats of skill, everyone entering heartily into the 
sport, from the infant who can hardly walk to the sire who can just 
totter around. When night comes, they envelop themselves in large, 

warm night robes, placing 
their day clothes either in 
an open cabinet or upon a 
frame which stands near.and 
repose upon a straw matting 
covered with a quilt, with a 
wooden block stuffed at the 
top for a pillow. It is cus- 
tomary,also,to have a teapot 
with cups beside the bed, 
with conveniences for heat- 
ing, so that the day may be 
ushered in with one or more 
cups of the favorite bever- 
age. Day and night the 
brazier is kept burning, and 
if the Japanese is not drink- 
A JAPANESE BEDROOM. jj^g ^ga, he is usually some- 

where in the vicinity of the teapot, smoking and gossiping with his friends. 

THE LAST RESTING PLACE. 

Regard for the dead is manifested by the Japanese in the same way 
as by the Chinese. The ancestral tablet is placed with the household 
gods, and the family altar is their most sacred shrine. If the body is 
interred, it is buried in a sitting posture, with the hands folded. The 
coffins are invariably circular. The ceremonies at the grave are con- 
ducted by priests, and even here there is little of that depressing spirit 
of mourning manifested, which, with some, is considered a religious as 
well as a sodal duty. The nearest relatives are dressed in grayish white, 




AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES, 



297 



the men wear coarse straw hats, and the women discard their elaborate 
ornaments, merely wearing a comb in the hair. The cemetery is bright 
with flowers, and each family has its own enclosure, marked with simple 
stones or massive granite monuments. 

If the deceased has expressed a desire to have his body burned, 
after the ceremonies have been performed in the temple, .the corpse is 
carried to a small house, placed upon a stone scaffold, and being con- 
sumed in the presence of priests, the bones are carefully drawn from the 
fire by men armed with sticks. The remaining ashes are placed in an 
urn, and carried to the tomb by the relatives. 

AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 

Government and people combine to make Japan a garden, and to 
utilize every possible acre of ground. The land is divided into small 
holdings, irrigated, enriched and cultivated according to the Chinese 
methods. The plough generally in use is a heavy piece of wood fastened 
obliquely to a beam, and hollowed out so as to receive a piece of iron 
which serves as a share. When the land has been inundated from the 
canals in early spring, it is broken up into a liquid paste and the rice is 
cast into the ground by hand. It is then harrowed; when the young rice 
begins to shoot it is transplanted and reaches maturity in October. 
The transformation of the tea plant into commercial forms is accom- 
plished through the same processes in Japan as in China. When you 
are intimate with the agriculture of either country you can " farm it " in 
the other. 

As horticulturists, however, the Japanese stand alone in certain 
specialities. They seem even to carry their feats of legerdemain into 
this department. They will grow you a cedar many feet in circumfer- 
ence or only a few inches ; a head of lettuce larger than a bushel basket 
or smaller than a rose, but healthy and productive in either case. Among 
other wonders in this line a sight-seer mentions the vigorous appearance 
of a fir, a bamboo and a cherry tree, which were growing in a box 5x2 
inches. It is by the application of this remarkable skill that the Japanese 
are enabled to delineate upon the tiniest pieces of ground, the boldest 
and most charming landscapes. 

With the introduction into Japan of steam power and modern 
machinery the native manufactures are already undergoing many changes, 
not always for the better. It is an open question, therefore, whether in 
certain lines of work the Japanese have not reached their greatest per- 
fection. Their lacquer work and their bronzes are the finest in the 
world. For fhe former they have become so noted as to have given a 



298 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

common word to the English language — japanning. The varnish whica 
they use is mixed slowly and smoothly upon a copper palette with the 
coloring matter, and after being applied five or six times, being allowed 
to dry after each application, is scraped and polished with a stone or 
bamboo utensil. The mother-of-pearl figures are cut out and colored 
underneath, placed upon the varnish and undergo the same process as 
the wood. 

The bronzes are not only noted for the fineness of the metal but 
for the beauty of the finish. They are richly decorated with figures 
representing national heroes, mythological personages, and historical 
events, as well as birds, animals and landscapes. The swords of Japan 
are almost as famous as the Damascus blades. In short, as workers in 
iron, copper and brass they are unexcelled. 

Their paper, which they make from the mulberry tree, is tough, 
glossy and fine, and is used for napkins. The bark of the tree is boiled 
in an alkaline composition, washed, and mixed with a preparation of 
rice ; being thus reduced to a smooth paste, the mixture is formed into 
sheets by being pressed between bamboo laths. 

The Japanese tend their silkworms as carefully as their children. 
The art of weaving is, by legendary account, of celestial origin, and is con- 
sidered as of as royal a nature as it is in China. The lovely maiden who 
brought the art to earth returned to her home in one of the heavenly 
constellations, and upon the seventh day of the seventh month, as the 
stars appear, Japanese women and girls spread beneath their kindly rays 
silken threads of various colors, offering fruits and flowers to the divini- 
ties who control the cunning of human hands. 

THE JAPANESE AS ARTISTS. 

In the decoration of their fans, houses, metal and wood work, and 
the arrangement of their beautiful parks, the Japanese exhibit their 
artistic talents to the best advantage. Birds, flowers and fruit are their 
favorite themes, and they delineate them in perfect forms and exquisite 
colors. But when they come to the representation of landscapes, where 
perspective is required, their efforts are crude in the extreme ; in fact, 
they are such masters of detail that they can not conceive how it is 
that every feather and shade of color should not be distinctly brought 
out of the bird upon the wing in the far distance as well as every line 
of the palace which stands in the foreground The Japanese have made 
a close study of anatomy, but Japanese artists slur the "human form 
divine" most shamefully. It is generally draped and properly attired in 



THE FIRST, LAST. 



299 



native costume, when appearing in their pictures, and a Japanese sculp- 
tor would be a curiosity indeed. 

Like the Chinese the Japanese are persistent musicians, although 
they produce but little 
music. Music is part of 
every woman's education, 
her favorite instruments 
being a three-stringed 
banjo and a larger instru- 
ment which is placed up- 
on the ground and played 
with slender strips of 
bamboo. 

THE FIRST, LAST. 

There is one entire 
race of people who en- 
gage in fishings the 
Ainos, who inhabit the 
island of Yezo, to the 
north of Niphon. They 
are the aborigines of the 
archipelago. In appear- 
ance they are small and 
thick set, with wide fore- 
heads, black, horizontal 
eyes and fair skin. The 
women dress in zouave 
style, wear broad- 
brimmed hats with a 
conical center, or simply 
cloths tied over the head. 
The men have tight-fit- 
ting pantaloons, with a 
cloak fastened with a 
sash, the cloth for which 
is made from sea-weed. 
The Ainos have no traditions of their origin, but they believe 
they came from the west, although they differ from all the tribes 
of Eastern Siberia. They worship the fish and the wolf and make 




300 THE world's FAIR. 

no attempt to cultivate their land. The Ainos were formerly masters 
of the archipelago, north of Niphon, and after being driven from that 
island fought stubbornly for many years and were not reduced to com- 
plete subjection until the fourteenth century. They are rapidly decreas- 
ing in numbers and are being crowded into the northern districts of the 
only island which remains to them ; so that before long it is probable 
that they will be extinct. 

THE COREANS. 

It seems probable that the Coreans are of the great Tungoosic stock 
to which the Mantchoos belong and which has spread over so great a 
portion of Northern Asia. Their language is Mongolian, and they are 
both taller and stouter than either the Chinese or Japanese. But 
although they have been conquered by the Mantchoos, the Japanese 
and the Chinese, the latter have retained the supremacy, and they render 
even a less tribute to the empire than does Mongolia. Their religions, 
however, are borrowed from China and the nature of the government is 
Confucian. 

Literary attainment is the basis of political preferment. The 
examinations all take place in Seoul, the capital of the kingdom, the 
preliminary one being conducted annually, and those of higher grade 
when His Majesty is in need of government officers. The king is abso- 
lute, although there are near to him the Counsellor of the Right, the 
Counsellor of the Middle and the Counsellor of the Left. The six 
Chinese departments appear in Corea, the Interior, the Treasury, the 
War, the Public Works, and the departments of Justice and Religious 
Rites. Each department has its head, whose title, translated, is " deci- 
sive signature," and he is assisted by several " helps-to-decide " and 
" helps-to-discuss." 

The provinces into which the kingdom is divided have each a gover- 
nor, who has six assistants ; these assistants, who are rulers of districts, 
are aided by six other officials upon whom, in turn, depend six other 
functionaries. Three and multiples of three seem to be considered 
magic numbers. 

The audience hall of the King's palace, which is of the Chinese 
form of architecture, is faced by three gates ; the approach from the gates 
to the first flight of steps is flanked on either side by eighteen granite 
slabs upon which are engraved the different ranks of His Majesty's sub- 
jects and which mark also the precise point to which they may advance 
toward his divine presence, when a royal reception is on hand. 



THREE CENTURIES OF DISCOVERY. 




COLUMBUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS. 

r? HE discoveries which Columbus made, and which he inspired 
others to make, are those which have led to the creation of 
America as we know it to-day. It is true that his object was 
to find the land of Cathay, with its cities of gold and oceans 
of spices; that he did not originate the theory that the eastern 
bounds of Asia would be reached by sailing to the West, and 
that he believed to his dying day that he had found nothing more than 
the outlying lands of the Old World. It is true that his purpose was to 
convert the people of the East to the sway of the Catholic faith and 
their Catholic Majesties, and to spend one-fourth of the gold which he 
obtained upon another crusade for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. 
He believed, moreover, in all the maelstroms, seas of mud and slimy^ 
weeds, and hideous monsters of water, land and air, with which Euro- 
peans had for ages been crowding the Western regions. Columbus was 
filled with all the fanaticism and superstition, as well as the geographical 
knowledge, of his times. 

But the hero is he who trembles and yet goes right on. Thus for 
years Columbus braved the hisses of courtiers, the scorn of kings and 
the storm of churchmen, and finally sailed out into the unknown dangers 
of the mysterious West to prove his faith in his theory. He deceived 
his men as to the distance they were sailing that he might quiet their 
fears of getting beyond the point where the rotundity of the earth would 
allow them to return home. The variations of the needle, which he did 
not himself understand, he promptly "explained" to his followers. He 
encouraged the despondent, calmly checked the turbulent, held out 
promises of gold and spices to the avaricious, and when his private log- 
book indicated that he had reached the point where land ought to lie, he 
confidently predicted its appearance. Soon thereafter came the floating- 
weeds, the birds, the flickering lights, the discovery of the little island — 
the glorious day of October 12, 1492, which is soon to be made even* 
more glorious by the Columbian Exposition. 

301 



302 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

When Columbus landed, he found that the simple natives of the 
New World looked upon him and his men as celestial beings, and he 
begged his followers to so conduct themselves that the savages would 
have no cause for changing their minds. Very soon, however, such 
articles as bits of broken glass, straps and hoops of wine barrels were 
being given to the Indians in exchange for pieces of gold, pearls and 
other valuables which they considered common and valueless. From 
first to last the commander protested against this deceit. Nevertheless, 
upon his departure from Hispaniola he captured a number of Indians 
and carried them to Spain, that they might be baptized, learn the Spanish 
tongue, act as interpreters and spread the faith. Great was the excite- 
ment when he returned to his native land with these unearthly people. 
He had heard, he said, of natives with tails and without hair, but had 
found no monsters. The West was not so dreadful as men thought, and 
hundreds now flocked to Columbus begging to be enrolled under him. 

At this time Seville was the principal point in Spain for the. outfit- 
ting of ships, and was the headquarters of many wealthy business 
houses. At their head was a certain Bernard!, and associated with him 
was an energetic young Florentine — a scholar, geographer, astronomer 
and merchant — Americus Vespucius. One of Vespucius' ambitions was 
to repair the shattered financial fortunes of his family, which was already 
famous in the politics of the republic of Florence. This firm it was 
which bought the meats, wines, grain and other provisions for the ships 
of Columbus' second fleet, and the two men who were to be so closely 
connected with the history of America were thrown together in such a 
way that they became not only associates but friends. 

The ships weighed anchor on September 25, 1493. Columbus 
found Jamaica and other islands, nearly sailing to the western extremity 
of Cuba. From Hispaniola he wrote a letter to a friend at court, send- 
ing him gold, fruits, plants, and five hundred Indians to be sold in Seville. 
These natives, it should be remarked, were believed to be cannibals, and 
were considered as prisoners of war — bondsmen who were to be taught 
Spanish and some useful occupation, converted and be returned to the 
Indies as agents of good among their people. But these benevolent in- 
tentions were not to be realized. Even in Hispaniola both Indians and 
Spaniards were becoming quarrelsome and rebellious, the natives having 
long ago been undeceived as to their belief in the heavenly nature of the 
new comers. 

Some eighteen months after writing the letter to his friend, Colum- 
bus returned again to Spain with such striking evidences of gold that he 



COLUMBUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS. 303 

insisted he had found King Solomon's mines. Then a regular board for 
the conduct of Indian affairs was established. This was the first step 
taken by Ferdinand to dispossess Columbus of the Admiralty of the 
Indies, which office he held under the license granted him when he ven- 
tured out into the western ocean. The discoveries were growing into 
something worthy of being coveted even by a king. 

As his ships entered the tropics, on their third voyage, Columbus 
says that such heat was suffered that the wheat burned like tinder, the 
hoops burst from the wine and water barrels, and the bacon and salt 
meat fried as in an oven. All gave themselves up for lost, believing 
that the common report was to be verified — that here was the zone of 
fire in which no man could live. But as they approached the equinoctial 
and the continent the temperature became balmy and heavenly. As 
Columbus approached the Island of Trinidad, being borne along on the 
strong currents flowing toward the west, there came toward him a sheer 
wall of water. The meeting of the Orinoco floods and the Atlantic 
currents was terrible, and his escape from the Dragon's Mouth (as he 
called the Gulf of Paria) was a miracle. Columbus was in doubt, also, 
whether such a vast body of fresh water was drained from a continent 
or issued from Paradise. He concluded that Paradise "must be near 
these parts and near the summit of the earth, which here in the region 
of the equinoctial rises like the stalk of a pear." 

Having discovered the Coast of Pearls, he dispatched a letter to 
Their Highnesses, expressing his entire confidence in their friendship 
and support, yet hinting that his enemies who grumble at the small 
quantities of spices, pearls and gold which he sent home may be like 
water dropping upon a stone. And these fears were not groundless. 

All of Christendom was aroused over the Columbian discoveries. 
Even the English had sent the Cabots to search for an Indian passage 
to the Northwest. They had penetrated the Arctic region, discovered 
land near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and dropped nearly to the 
limit of the Spanish explorations. Later the Portuguese sailed even 
farther north, and it is supposed that the two Cortereals were lost, be- 
tween 1 501 -2, in the storms and ices of Hudson Bay. The old com- 
panions of Columbus (such as Ojeda and Pinzon, who had been with 
him on his first voyage) were also now his rivals, and, encouraged by 
King Ferdinand, Bishop Fonseca (at the head of the Council of the 
Indies) and others who were jealous of his fame, they were furnished 
with the maps and charts which had been drawn by the great discoverer 
and sent to the Coast of Pearls. Pinzon, Ojeda, the veteran cosmog- 



304 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



rapher and navigator De la Cosa, and Americus Vespucius, comrades of 
Columbus by sea and by land, discovered the mouth of the Amazon and 
portions of the coast of Northern South America, which their prede- 
cessor had not found. As a result of the expedition under Ojeda, John 











SEBASTIAN CABOT. 



de la Cosa (while the ship was lying in port, in May, 1500) drew the 
first general map of America. 

While on his way to Spain, Ojeda touched at Hispaniola and attempted 
to further the rebellion against Columbus, which was already well under 
way, and which culminated in the arrest of the Discoverer by Bobadilla, 
the King's governor and agent. Columbus was charged with usurping 



COLUMBUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS. 307 

the royal prerogatives in the new Indies, and was placed in chains to be 
shipped to Spain. 

But before either the dispatches of Bobadilla or the shattered hero 
himself were received at court, a pathetic letter had been read to Queen 
Isabella which completely won her heart — if it had ever threatened to 
slip away from Columbus. The letter was written by the Discoverer to 
one of her ladies in waiting, the nurse to her children, and a friend of 
his. It reiterated his confidence in her, and added that one of his mo- 
tives in undertaking his third voyage was to relieve somewhat the griefs 
which death (that of Prince John) had occasioned her. 

Although Bobadilla was recalled from Hispaniola and another small 
fleet was fitted out for Columbus, he was never again restored to the 
rank of admiral, and when, in May, 1502, he set out upon his fourth 
voyage he was ordered, upon no account, to touch at Hispaniola. This, 
his last voyage, was one of storms and wrecks. At length a hurricane, 
which threatened the destruction of his four caravels, furiously cast itself 
upon the richly-laden Spanish fleet and sent it to the bottom of the sea, 
with Bobadilla and other enemies of Columbus as a part of its freight. 
Although refused shelter by Ovando, the new governor of Hispaniola, 
Columbus weathered the terrible storm, but after being buffeted by the 
winds and waters of the Caribbean and struggling along the coasts o£ 
Honduras and Darien for nine months, he found himself with only two 
weather-beaten ships, sick and heart-sore, stranded upon the shores of 
Jamaica. It was here, while waiting for relief from Ovando and threat- 
ened with death by his mutinous followers — the whole party expecting 
to be butchered by savages — that he wrote directly to King Ferdinand 
and Queen Isabella, reminding them of his acknowledged services, and 
how he and his brothers had been plundered of their honors, their 
pearls and their very frocks. He had not a hair upon his head which 
was not gray; his body was infirm; he had not been left the smallest 
offering, he said, wherewith to save his soul, and he besought them, if 
he were rescued, to sanction his pilgrimage to Rome. The letter was 
dated Jamaica, July 7, 1503. 

At length relief came and Columbus was borne, through a succes- 
sion of tempests, across the ocean to Seville, where he arrived as com- 
plete a human wreck as any which ever floated. He was too ill and 
worn to proceed on his way; but his son Diego and his brother Bar- 
tholomew were already at court to urge that justice be done to him, and 
Americus Vespucius had be;: '^"t. \j "olumbus to assist his relatives in" 
mending his fortune and his name. His friend, Vespucius, who was also 




308 



VESPUCIUS. 



309 



the King-'s favorite, set out in February, 1505. But Queen Isabella's 
death, during the preceding November, had been the final blow to his 
hopes and his life, and while relatives and friends were pleading at court 
for a more just return for his great life-work than a fair estate in Spain, 
the brave and vexed soul of the Genoese alien passed into peace. He 
died at Valladolid, whither he had been removed, on May 20, 1506. 



VESPUCIUS. 

As the death of Isabella was a fatal stroke to the prospects of 
Columbus, so it was life to the career of Vespucius. For some reason 
not quite plain he had abandoned King Ferdinand and made two voyages 
in the service of the King 
of Portugal. One of them 
had earned him such fame 
that the unseaworthy ship in 
which he returned to Lisbon 
had been broken up, amid 
popular rejoicings, and the 
pieces hung in the churches 
as precious relics. He had 
written to his noble friends 
in Florence, giving an ac- 
count of his third voyage, 
in which he says he meas- 
ured a quarter of the earth's 
circumference; whereupon Vespucius' name was publicly honored at 
Florence, in a grand festival of rejoicing. This bold suggestion was 
even made by the German editor of a geography of the day: "The 
fourth part of the world being discovered by Americus, it may be called 
Amerigo; that is, the land of Americus, or America." Although there 
has been much dispute over the extent of Vespucius' geographical dis- 
coveries, it is quite certain that he was one of the most broad-minded 
astronomers and cosmographers of his day, and that from his post, 
as Pilot Major of Spain (to which he was appointed by Ferdinand four 
years after Columbus' death), he had the best of opportunities to reach 
the significance of the western discoveries. A careful reading of the 
letters of Vespucius, in fact, indicates that he should have the honor 
of being named the first of the famous geographers who persisted in 
christening these new western lands, the New World. 




HOUSE WHERE COLUMBUS DIED. 



3IO THE WORLDS FAIR. 

Vespucius enjoyed the honors of his position four years, but during 
that period his name was spread abroad with every ship that sped 
toward the West, as the royal representative of the New World. 
Strange to say, however, he died just before the tidings came to Spain 
of the first authenticated footfall upon the North American Continent — 
upon the Land of Flowers — Florida, the future land of death. 

PONCE DE LEON. 

Now, among those who followed Columbus to the New World 
during his second voyage — when Jamaica and Porto Rico were discov- 
ered — was Ponce de Leon, a brave soldier in the Moorish wars and a 
favorite of King Ferdinand. Like his brave leader, he was both ambi- 
tious and romantic, and after he had conquered the island of Porto Rico 
with his steel-clad warriors and terrible bloodhounds, he found himself a 
rich old man, sighing after new adventures and the strength of youth to 
carry them out. The Indian story, therefore, that somewhere to the 
north, in the "Land of Bimini," was a region where time did not sap 
the strength of men — this tale was exactly fitted to Ponce's mind. 

In March, 15 13, then, his fleet of three ships sailed from Porto 
Rico for the North. Touching at Guanahani, the first island which 
Columbus discovered, he steered for the northwest, searching the 
Bahama Islands for Bimini, the wonderful land of springs and streams. 
On Easter Sunday, which the Spaniards call Pasque de Flores, he sighted 
the land which he named Florida. With the design of seeing if it was 
Bimini, he ran along the coast for several days, coming to anchor on 
April 2, near the present city of St. Augustine. In the meantime the 
Indians had been gathering upon the shores, following the ships as they 
crept along or exchanging provisions for colored ribbons, bits of tin, 
hawk bells, or whatever other trinkets the men had to offer. The Span- 
iards, however, did not venture to go ashore until the 8th of April. The 
Indians had been beckoning to Ponce and showed such friendliness that 
he then landed, erected a stone cross, and, with many grave and loud- 
spoken words, took possession of the country in the name of the Catho- 
lic Church and the King of Spain. 

Soon afterward, however, the Spaniards were attacked and driven 
away. They were also repulsed by the savages from the coast, near 
Cape Florida, and many years thereafter (in 152 1) Ponce de Leon was 
to receive his death wound while attempting a landing on the shores of 
the Florida bay which still bears his name. 



BALBOA. 311 

In 1509, Columbus' son Diego, through his marriage with the niece 
of the Duke of Alva, and the strength of his cause — which the Council 
of the Indies was even forced to acknowledge — obtained partial justice 
from King Ferdinand, and was sent out with a brilliant retinue as Gov- 
ernor of Hispaniola. That he was not Admiral of the Indies, as he 
himself supposed, was at once made manifest by the royal appointments 
to governorships over the western lands which were promptly made 
without so much as consulting him. Like his father, Don Diego was 
eventually worried and worn into his grave. 

About the time that Columbus (sometimes called, by courtesy, the 
Second Admiral) went forth, full of renewed hope, to Hispaniola, the 
fiery and faithless Ojeda was sent to the Darien country as its royal 
governor. Despite the advice of his elder and more cautious comrade, 
John de la Cosa, he landed upon the present site of Cartagena (northern 
shore of Colombia), in the territory of a hostile chief, and advanced into 
the interior of the country, ordering the natives, in the King's name, to 
be converted, and capturing and abusing many of them. At length his 
command was attacked with such fury that only himself and one other 
soldier escaped to his ships alive. Juan de la Cosa fought bravely to the 
last, but some days after the battle the relief party which was sent to 
se-^rch for him found his body lying near a tree, hideously swollen with 
the poison of the many arrows with which it was transfixed. 

After the tragic death of America's geographic father, Ojeda planted 
a colony near Cartagena, called San Sebastian, taking that saint for his 
patron because he was shot to death with arrows. San Sebastian has 
been called the first permanent settlement on the continent of South 
America, some claiming that the honor should be accorded to Veragua, 
which Columbus founded, during his fourth voyage, upon the shores of 
the Isthmus of Darien. 

BALBOA. 

The turbulent Ojeda soon departed for Hispaniola, where he was 
to die a natural and an obscure death, and one of his lieutenants, not 
knowing the fate of the expedition, sailed for the already deserted town 
of San Sebastian. Of all the company which set out for the mainland, 
only a bankrupt adventurer, secreted in a wine cask, had anything to do 
with making American history. He — Vasco Nunez de Balboa — when 
the ship was fairly upon the high seas and he knew that he was out of 
the clutches of his creditors, came forth from his retreat, and, to be short 
about it, from the time of the landing and founding of a new town on 



312 



THE world's fair. 



the coast of Darien, his bravery, ability and suavity of manners gamed 
him the power which belonged, officially, to the commander Ojeda s 
lieutenant was finally imprisoned and sent to Spain, but he mduced tne 
King to recall Balboa himself. The daring- Spaniard, however, and his 




BALBOA TAKES POSSESSION OF THE PACIFIC. 

adventurous captain, Pizarro, had been informed of a country of gold 
and a great sea beyond the mountains of Darien. A chief, alter 
having witnessed the Spaniards quarreling over a few pieces of gold 
which he had given them, ran to the scales, struck them with his fist and 
scattered the precious bits upon the ground, saying that the Christians 



CORTES. 



3U 



need not fall out about such a trifle, for beyond the mountains was a 
great sea, and beyond the sea they would find a country where gold was 
as plentiful as iron in Spain, 

Balboa had already sent much gold to his Sovereign, and to further 
conciliate him he resolved to discover the opulent country to the south. 
First, however, he must find the great Southern Sea beyond the moun- 
tains. The passage across the mountains to the isthmus was laborious 
and perilous. Some of the Indians he won over by presents of trinkets 
and iron axes; others he was obliged to fight, the fire-arms of the Span- 
iards and their bloodhounds striking the natives as terrible powers of the 
Devil. On the 26th of September, 15 13, Balboa, from the summit of 
the mountain range, first sighted the Pacific Ocean, and a few days later 
he walked into its waters up to his thighs, with his sword and shield, 
calling witnesses to testify that he took possession of the South Sea for 
the King of Castile and Leon, and that he would defend the possession 
against all opposers. He then returned to Darien, and, dragging the 
materials across the mountains, his men built two brigantines with which 
to explore the mighty sea. But Balboa was betrayed into the hands of 
his enemies and finally (15 17) was executed in Spain. 

CORTES. 

In 151 1, Diego Columbus dispatched to Cuba one of the wealthiest 
and most popular of his followers, Captain James Velasquez, who, more- 
over, had accompanied his father on his second voyage, and was his 
warm admirer and friend. With the assistance of the priests, the con- 
quest of what proved to be the most valuable of the Spanish possessions 
was accomplished almost without bloodshed. Cortes, who had already 
been highly honored by Ovando, the former Governor of Hispaniola, 
was sent to Cuba as Velasquez' private secretary. This young man of 
twenty-six, however, was so ambitious that he became the messenger of 
a dissatisfied clique, and agreed to lay their charges of ill-treatment 
before the Judges of Appeal, who had lately arrived at Hispaniola, As 
the reckless Cortes was stepping into his canoe to cross the eighteen 
leagues of sea which lay between the islands, he was arrested by Velas- 
quez' agents. But although he narrowly escaped a hanging, he after- 
ward was received into the confidence of his superior, was appointed a 
judge of Cuba, and became very wealthy. 

Although, by 15 18, two of Velasquez' captains had discovered the 
coast of Mexico and obtained news of the powerful monarch, Monte- 



314 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

zuma, they had done nothing toward conquering the country. The 
enterprise was therefore entrustd to Cortes, who proceeded, with char- 
acteristic energy to push the building of the ships and the collecting of 
provisions and men. The whole strength of Santiago was centered in 
this undertaking, and the whole town viewed the preparations with admi- 
ration. One day when they were nearly completed, Velasquez, his 
jester, Franky, and Cortes, were walking together near the harbor, 
viewing the busy scene. Suddenly the jester turned to his master and 
said, "Take heed what you do, lest we be forced to go a-hunting after 
Cortes." Velasquez laughed heartily and said to Cortes: "Comrade, 
mind what that knave says." Although Cortes had heard it, he answered, 
"What, sir?" 

Velasquez repeated the buffoon's remark, and Cortes said that the 
fool was mad and not worth listening to. But all who heard the words 
laughed knowingly, and they so clung to Velasquez that soon afterward 
he decided to cancel Cortes' commission and choose a less ambitious man. 
His "comrade" however, was advised of his intentions, and, although the 
preparations were not completed, Cortes slipped out of port one night, 
with his eleven ships, 500 soldiers and ten brass cannon, and gathering 
provisions in Jamaica and portions of Cuba, as well as picking up about 
150 new recruits, he sailed away from the Havana for the opposite 
coast of Yucatan. The jester was right, and although Velasquez many 
a time thereafter ordered Cortes to return, and sent his soldiers after 
him, he was beyond recall— he was to be a greater man than his patron. 
After losing one ship, he landed upon the coast of Mexico, on March 4, 
1 5 19. For two years and a half he fought his way to supreme power, 
the City of Mexico and the empire of the Montezumas falling before the 
valor and unprincipled cruelty of the Spaniards in 1521. 

Like those of Columbus, the wings of Cortes were clipped that he 
should not soar too near the royal plane. He was denied the Viceroy- 
alty of New Spain, but became Captain-General, and was afterward 
allowed to go on voyages of discovery — mostly at his own expense — 
along the western coasts of Mexico. Cortes was the first European to 
sight the peninsula and Gulf of California, in 1533, two years thereafter 
planting a colony upon these shores. 

MAGELLAN. 

When Cortes first landed upon the coasts of Mexico, the eastern 
shores of South America had been traced by the Portuguese and the 



ENTRY OF FRANCE. 



315 



Spaniards nearly to the Strait of Magellan. Each of these great mari- 
time people was endeavoring to discover how far the New World (as 
South America was then called) extended toward the south. In spite of 
the assaults of cold, hunger and blood-thirsty mutiny amidst the Antarctic 
wastes, the stern and gallant Portuguese solved the problem for Spain. 
In November, 1520, Magellan emerged into the unmeasured expanse of 
the Pacific, and though he was killed in a conflict with the natives of the 
Philippines, one of his captains lived to pass around the southernmost 
point of Africa and proudly return to Spain as the first circumnavigator 
of the globe. 

ENTRY OF FRANCE. 

Rouen, the old capital of Normandy, and Dieppe, its principal sea- 
port, were long the most important maritime centers of France, and 
during the earliest days of America many of their bold mariners fre- 
quented the fisheries of Newfoundland and other rich grounds of the 
St. Lawrence. The sailors of Normandy were worthy descendants of 
the ancient Norsemen, and during the era of the early Columbian dis- 
coveries, under bold captains, they also became noted as fearless and 
successful corsairs. It is suspected, further, that the treasure ships of 
the Spaniards and Portuguese were as much coveted by the wealthy 
merchants as by the captains and their crews, 

A certain Florentine, named John Verrazzano, is reported to have 
accompanied a mariner of Dieppe to the region of the St. Lawrence, in 
1508, and later, as a captain, to have taken a treasure ship in which 
Cortes was sending $1,500,000 worth of valuables to his royal master. 
Soon after this successful venture Verrazzano was sent by the King of 
France into the western ocean, to search for a passage to India in that 
part of the world lying between the Spanish and the English discoveries. 
On March 10, 1524, after a tempestuous voyage in his small vessel, the 
Dauphine, he reached the coast of the United States, at the 34th parallel 
of north latitude, near Cape Fear, North Carolina, and, before he 
returned to France, examined the shores of the Atlantic from this locality 
to the island-studded bays of Maine. On the 8th of July of this year, 
on shipboard in the port of Dieppe, he wrote a letter to King Francis, 
describing the country along his route — the coasts of North Carolina 
and Virginia, Chesapeake Bay, New York harbor and river, Narragan- 
sett Bay, Cape Cod and the shores of Maine. This stretch of country 
he called the New Land — soon afterward to be called New France — and 
his letter it was which first connected the northern and southern discov- 



i6 



THE WORLDS FAIR. 



eries, and revealed the New World in its true grandeur. He concluded 
that the New World covered 1 20° of latitude, which is wonderfully near 
the truth. Verrazzano made another voyage to America, in 1526, during 
which some historians assert that he was eaten by the Indians — others 
that he was captured by the Spaniards, taken to Spain and hung for 
piracy. 




HOUSE WHERE PJZARRO WAS ASSASSINATED, IN LIMA, PERU. 



This was the period (1526), also, when further great discoveries 
were inaugurated in South America; when Pizarro commenced his career 
of conquest in that country of which he had heard when a captain under 
Balboa, and when Sebastian Cabot, now in the employ of Spain, was 
fighting his way up the great valley of the Plata. They were the fore- 
runners of others, who, within twenty years, had conquered and explored 
the coast countries of Western South America, had colonized the valley 
of the Plata to Central South America^ and had sailed down the Amazon 
River from its headwaters among the Andes to its mouth in the Atlantic. 
But from the time of the French discoveries the attention of Europe was 
permanently divided between the South and the North. 

Spain and Portugal both protested at the claims of France; England 
did not. But Francis, the King, continued to send out his men, and, at 
length, when Cartier landed at Chaleur's Bay, below the mouth of the 
St. Lawrence River (in 1534), taking possession of the country in his 



THE AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



317 



name, and the two southern kingdoms sent forth a more decided protest 
than ever, the royal gentleman of France got out of patience and ex- 
claimed that he " should like to see the clause in our Father Adam's 
will and testament wherein such vast lands were deeded to Spain and 
Portugal." Cartier took back two Indians to France, who told him of 
the St. Lawrence River, and the next year (1535) he returned and 
ascended it to the sites of Quebec and Montreal. The latter portions of 
the sixteenth century was darkened by the bloody quarrels between the 
Spaniards and the French, on the southeastern coasts of the United 
States, after which France began to concentrate all her strength and 
bravery upon the explorations of the interior. Cartier drove the enter- 
ing wedge for Champlain, Joliet, Mar- 
quette and La Salle, by whose intre- 
pidity the valley of the St. Lawrence, 
the Great Lakes, and the valleys of the 
Ohio and Mississippi were explored 
for a century and a half, and the most 
wonderful system of fresh water in the 
world was revealed. 

But about the time, in 1541, that 
Cartier was returning from France, as 
captain of the King's ships in New 
France, the Spaniards were making 
bold expeditions into the southern 
portions of the United States. Coro- 
nado, from Mexico, and De Soto, 
from Florida, approached to within a 
few hundred miles of each other, at 
a point west of the Mississippi River. 
Coronado penetrated to the Missouri; 
left his wasted body in the Mississippi Valley. Coronado returned to 
New Spain, a crushed man. They both sought for such glorious Indian 
kingdoms as Cortes and Pizarro had found; but their luckless adventures, 
and their wanderings from sea to sea, only resulted in laying the founda- 
tion for the future territorial claims of Spain in the United States. 

THE AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 




SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 



De Soto into Texas. De Soto 



During the latter portion of the sixteenth century England awoke 
to the value of the Western discoveries, and sent her greatest mariner, 
Francis Drake, to the West Indies and the northern shores of South 



THE WORLDS FAIR. 



America, that Spain might feel the entrance of another power into the 
domain of the southern and the western seas. After carrying conster- 
nation into the lands of the Caribbean, seizing Spanish ships and towns 
with zeal and ease alike, the intrepid commander sailed down the eastern 
coasts of South America to the Strait of Magellan, emerging into the 
Pacific Ocean, in September, 1578, as the first Englishman whose craft 
had plowed its waters. Skimming along the coasts of Chili and Peru, 
pouncing upon the Spanish ships as he went, he at length arrived upon 

our coasts, sated with plun- 
der. His land-fall was in 
the vicinity of San Fran- 
cisco Bay. He took pos- 
session of the country for 
Queen Elizabeth, naming 
it New Albion, and, after 
a short season of rest, 
sailed up the coast nearly 
to the latitude of the inter- 
national boundary. Being 
unsuccessful in his search 
for an eastern passage of 
escape into the Atlantic, 
he turned boldly into the 
Pacific Ocean, and steered 
for the Moluccas. Drake 
arrived in the harbor of 
Plymouth, on November 
3, 1580, being the first 
Englishman to circum- 
navigate the globe. Soon 
after his return he was vis- 
ited by the Queen, on shipboard, and received the honors of knighthood. 
The most important discovery next made on the western coast of 
America was that its bold extension to the northwest was separated by 
a strait from the northeastern peninsula of Asia. Vitus Bering, or 
Behring, a German in the employ of Russia, made this discovery, in 
1728. But the coast of America from Drake's New Albion to Behring's 
Strait remained unexplored, in a scientific and thorough manner, until 
the time of Cook and Vancouver. While transporting an English scien- 
tific party from Tahiti, where its members had been observing a transit 




CAPTAIN COOK. 



THE AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. ^jo 

of Venus, and searching for the vast southern continent, which was be- 
lieved to exist in the Antarctic Ocean, the famous Captain Cook discov- 
ered NewZealand, the southeastern shores of Australia, and other lands 
for the Sovereign of England. This was in 1769. Captain Cook made 
another unsuccessful search for the Antarctic Continent, and finally was in- 
structed to sail to the coast of America and examine it from New Albion, 
north, to 65^, for the purpose of ascertaining if there was an eastern 
passage into the Atlantic Ocean. After discovering the Sandwich 
Islands, he reached the California coast, in March, 1778, and then sailed 
north along the shores of Canada and Alaska to Cook's Inlet. Here, 
at last, he thought he had found the great Atlantic strait, but, being dis- 
appointed, passed on nearly to Behring's Strait, where his further progress 
was stopped by ice. He then directed his course to the Sandwich 
Islands, where he was killed February 13, 1779. One of his brightest 
midshipmen, upon this and a previous voyage, was George Vancouver, 
who, from 1792-94, under orders from the British Government, com- 
pleted the survey of the Pacific coast from Lower California to Cook's 
Inlet Thus the English must be considered the fathers of our Pacific 
coast, as the French are of our Atlantic. 

Furthermore, as the French were the discoverers of Interior 
United States east of the Mississippi River, so were the Americans the 
first scientific explorers of the country west of that mighty natural 
division. The first government expedition was sent out by Thomas 
Jefferson, in 1805, and traced the course of the Missouri and Columbia 
rivers. The late General John C. Fremont, so identified with the history 
of California and the Southwest, may be called the last great American 
explorer and discoverer. As late as 1848 he revealed almost a new 
world in the United States of America. He was the last child of 
Columbus, and paved the way for those transcontinental railways, which 
have at length brought Europe into close communication with Asia — 
with the Land of Cathay and the Spice Islands of the East. The French 
and the Americans first opened the eyes of the world to the vastness of 
the land barring the way to the East; the explorers of Interior United 
States and her Anglo-American colonizers at length made it plain that 
in this "obstructive world" was to be found the riches, the sunshine and 
the strength of youth which Columbus and his comrades sought in the 
East, beyond the mere curtains of the West. 

When the cotemporaries of Columbus were forced to see that some 
vast land lay between them and their spices, they still sought for a pas- 
sage by water through Panama's narrow neck. The strait not being 



320 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

forthcoming, a few years after the death of Columbus they were discuss- 
ing the practicability of a communication, by small boats and carts, from 
Panama to the North Sea, via the Chagres River. Thus Spain hoped to 
outgeneral Portugal, who was obliged to sail around Cape Horn, But 
Providence had other plans in view. The short and easy way remains 
untraveled; instead, Anglo-Saxon and Latin fought their way through 
savage men and savage nature for nearly three thousand miles, before 
the real highway was opened to Cathay and the Moluccas. France and 
America completed the chain to India. 

Now, a further word as to America's part. Thomas Jefferson was 
as truly the father of the Western United States as of the National 
Constitution. Many years before the first government expedition, under 
his control, penetrated to the Pacific, he attempted to solve the mysteries 
of our West. Jefferson it was who dispatched Lewis and Pike, and wit- 
nessed, with pride, the geographical birth of splendid river systems, huge 
mountain peaks and wonders of nature not dreamed of before. Many 
vital truths were revealed, of the country between the Mississippi and 
the Rockies, from the headwaters of that river to Texas, and of the 
territory from the sources of the Missouri and Columbia to the Pacific 
Ocean. From his retirement at Monticello he followed the tracks of 
Major Long as that explorer traced the Platte and Arkansas rivers to 
their hiding-places in the mountains. It was at this time, when Thomas 
H. Benton was just commencing his long career in the Senate, that 
Jefferson received a visit from the Missouri statesman. It was the first 
and only time that the two came together, but the effects of that inter- 
view were so lasting upon Senator Benton's mind that for thirty years he 
aimed, as a legislator, to carry out the western policy of his master. 

Senator Benton, after Jefferson, was the father of the West. It is 
fitting, therefore, that his statue at St. Louis should face the West, that 
its finger of marble should point to the West, and that from its pedestal 
should be read this inscription : 

"There is the East; 
There is the road to India." 

Not only has the road to India been found, but through such a land! 




NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 

ALASKA. 



UTT WM^^ regions of Alaska which are really known are confined 

Wl \<^ ^° ^^^ coast, and the district inhabited by others than the 

^^*j^^ native Indians is virtually included in the region about Sitka, 

^^^^^^ or New Archangel. What has been learned of the interior of 

^^^p^ the country has come through rather indefinite native sources. 

I^plj Fort Yukon, at the junction of the Yukon and Porcupine 

lyOi Rivers, is the most northerly station of the Hudson Bay Com- 

||| pany, and some 900 miles east of the coast. The traders 

W occasionally obtain information, with furs, from the natives, but 

t the former is scant indeed. Sitka, as capital of the territory, 

and St. Paul, on Kadiak Island, as the main depot of the seal fisheries, 

are where tourists mostly seek news of the country. The Yukon and 

the smaller rivers have been explored, and it is safe to say that no 

stories told about the salmon can be too large. 

Geologically, Alaska will prove a pregnant field for scientists, and 
lovers of the grand and the beautiful will be attracted even more 
strongly. All along the Pacific Coast there are glaciers filling the 
mountain gorges, and terminating at the sea in magnificent masses of 
overhanging ice. One of the most remarkable of these grand exhibi- 
tions, of which nature is so wonderfully lavish, is the Muir's Glacier, of 
Glacier Bay, a product of the Sitka Mountains. The swiftest and 
strongest pen falls far behind the reality in describing this frozen river, 
which stands as high as the loftiest cathedral, is two miles across and 
forty miles in length. 

REMNANTS OF THE GREAT TRIBES. 

The Athabascans compose a great family which has left its mark all 
over the western portions of British America, in the names of rivers and 
lakes, although its own name was given it by the Algonquins. The 
tribes of Alaska and British America are mild and industrious, greatly 




VOYAGING ON THE COLUMBIA. 



PRESENT WAYS OF LIVING. 325 

resembling the Esquimaux in their mode of Hving, especially in the skill 
which they show in the construction and use of their fishing weapons 
and their taste in carving their ornaments. Unlike the Esquimaux, 
however, who are most unsatisfactory as historical subjects, they retain 
traditions of a journey from the icy regions and islands of the great 
northwest. Another peculiarity which distinguishes them both from 
Esquimaux and other Indians is a heavy beard ; otherwise they have 
square heads, short hands and feet, and greatly resemble a Siberian 
Tungoose. 

The tribes of this family, comprise the native interior population of 
Alaska ; the Esquimaux occupying the northern coasts, and the Aleuts. 
the Aleutian and adjacent islands. . The latter have been classed both 
as Esquimaux and as Indians, but have been in contact with the Rus- 
sians for so many years as factors, or traders, that they have lost their 
national characteristics. In Alaska, the Athapascans are known as Ke- 
naians, a tribe by that name dwelling on the peninsula of Kenai, between: 
Cook's Inlet and Prince William Sound. These tribes are principally- 
settled along the Yukon River, which, from the Rocky Mountains, cuts; 
through the country for eighteen hundred miles and empties into Behr- 
ing Sea. 

PRESENT WAYS OF LIVING. 

The waters of all the rivers and streams abound in salmon. They 
are caught and dried by the Indians, some of whom use the typical 
birch-bark canoe in their journeys up and down. The work of catching 
salmon in Alaska rivers is not difficult; during the spawning season the 
streams are simply black with them, and it is no uncommon sight to see 
the banks piled up with dead fish to a height of three feet, the waves 
having cast ashore those which were weak and injured. 

Even now the Esquimaux and the Athabascans come into conflict, 
although their habits and beliefs are in many ways similar ; but, as a 
rule, they are mostly employed, either individually or by traders, in col- 
lecting fossil ivory, hunting the fox, beaver, marten, otter, mink, lynx 
and wolverine ; occasionally also fishing for the ulikon, which is 
abundant in some sections and celebrated as the fattest of known fish. 
Other ocean game engages their attention and taxes their ingenuity^ 
which seems never to be found wanting. 

The most original of their hooks, and which was especially photo- 
graphed from the real thing for us, is so constructed that when the 
fish snaps at his bait he not only gets hooked, but finds his head 
wedged into a sort of framework, so that he can not break away in either 



THE INDIAN S TOTEM. 327 

direction. The fish line, or rope, is made from a number of strands 
which consist of tough wood fibre, all twisted together in the neatest 
and most substantial fashion. The hook is fastened into a piece of wood 
which is grotesquely carved to represent a man playing a flute. 

The Alaska Indians are as fond of playing cards as many of their 
Siberian ancestors, but most of the American natives show Yankee skill 
in making their own implements of the game. They consist, in some 
cases, of little round pieces of hard wood, in shape like a finger, which 
are smoothed and polished and carved into faces and figures. The man- 
ner in which they play their games has not yet transpired, but the form 
of their cards would preclude much shuffling. 

The center of the fur-seal industry is 1,400 miles west of Alaska, on 
the Pribylov Islands, in the very heart of Behring Sea, but within 
American waters. It is monopolized by the Alaska Commercial Com- 
pany of San Francisco, and by Act of Congress seals may only be killed 
in June, July, September and October; firearms may not be used, or 
other means employed to drive the seals away ; neither female seals, nor 
those less than one year old, can be killed. The act also limits the num- 
ber to be killed, in addition to those required for food by the natives, to 
100,000 annually. St. Paul and St. George are the two islands of the 
above group where the seals resort for breeding purposes, the shores 
being well drained and gently sloping, and peculiarly adapted to the 
habits of the animals. The males usually arrive early in June, as many as 
possible selecting and defending a few square feet of land upon which 
to establish their families when the females appear, about a month later. 
Only to the brave, however, flock the fair, the result being that more 
males are bachelors than heads of families. The bachelor seals have 
their separate grounds, and they are the ones who are the victims of the 
hunter. Armed with thick clubs about five feet in length, and with 
knives, the natives drive the seals from their hauling grounds which 
the animals have themselves selected, to the killing grounds which 
the men have laid out. The next process is simply to knock them on 
the head, stab them to the heart, and skin them. The skins are then 
salted, piled in bins where they are allowed to pickle for several 
weeks, and then rolled into bundles of two skins each, with the hairy side 
out, ready for shipment. 

THE INDIAN'S "TOTEM." 

Returning to the continent, it is found that among the Kenai 
Indians there are more distinct traces of Asiatic blood than among the 
Aleuts. They have their Shaman as do the Siberian tribes, and uphold 



328 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

a species of caste. After burning the dead, the ashes are generally 
placed in a leather bag, which is suspended to a painted pole ; some of 
the tribes, however, put the corpse on a staging, or even bury it decently 
and erect a wooden tomb over it. Marriage is not allowed between 
members of the same clan or family, the children belonging to the 
mother's clan. Trousers and shoes are fastened to a kind of leather 
tunic ; which latter is worn of greater length by the women, rounded in 
front and trimmed with shells. The men paint their faces and wear 
shells in the nose, while the women tattoo lines on the chin. Personal 
beauty is said to favor the men, who, however, are in the minority. 
When girls arrive at a marriageable age they are separated from the 
rest for one year, and wear a peculiar bonnet with fringe over the face. 
The winter houses of some of the tribes are underground, as are the 
Esquimaux, and they are all given as much to barter as the Arctic race. 
Their money is either shells or beads. 

The Alaskans are divided into many tribes, and each tribe has its 
peculiar totem, or symbol, as was the case with the Iroquois of New 
York, or the Six Nations ; and the totem is still an institution with many 
of the tribes of the United States. There are Beaver, Crow, Rat, 
Turtle and all other kinds of Indians among the Alaskans, and each 
tribe has in front of its village a totem pole, on which is carved the 
figure or combination of figures which constitutes its coat-of-arms. These 
may even be seen in fascinating variety along the coast in the neighbor- 
hood of Sitka. 

The totem originates in the wide-spread Indian tradition that the 
red man's creation results from the union of a spirit with some of the 
lower animals, and the bird, beast or fish which he fixes upon as one of 
his parents becomes his totem. There are tribal totems and family 
totems. As to the latter, the skin of the totem is " carefully stuffed, 
bedecked with ornaments and feathers, is tied to a staff and carried 
about in the hand on grand full-dress occasions. In good weather it is 
stuck up in front of the door of the lodge, and when the head of the 
family dies it is suspended to the top of a strong, high pole, which is 
firmly planted beside his grave. It is the family crest, the title of honor, 
the symbol of its ancestry and descent, and whatever may be the name of 
the individual of that family, his signature is a rude representation of 
the creature to which he believes he owes his origin." The above 
applies more particularly to the tribes of the Western plains. 

THE FLATHEADS. 
Upon their reservation in Washington Territory is a small band 



THE APACHES. 329 

of Chinooks, a tribe of Indians who, at one time, lived on the coasts of 
Oregon and Washington and the banks of the Columbia River. They 
would be unworthy of mention were it not that they still conform to a 
custom which was in vogue with the ancient tribes of Mexico, Central 
America and Peru, and with the mound-builders whose skulls have been 
excavated in the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio. Either by bind- 
ing a piece of board or tightly braided grass upon their infants' heads, 
and suspending them so that the feet are the highest portions of their 
bodies, the Chinooks manage to flatten the soft, little craniums out of 
all natural shape. These Indians are small and unprepossessing, are 
filthy in their habits, but are shrewd and intelligent, ingenious in the 
construction of their household utensils and fishing weapons, as well as 
being of quite an artistic turn of mind. The Indians known as Flat- 
heads are not flatheads, in fact, they having never adopted the cus- 
tom of thus disfiguring themselves. They are located on a reservation 
in Western Montana, and are a remarkable instance of instinctive 
elevation. When they were half starved and naked, they voluntarily 
sent for a missionary and invited others to settle among them who could 
improve their condition. Willing to work, they made rapid progress in 
agriculture and industrial pursuits, obtained horses and cattle and, what 
was better, schools and churches. The Flatheads are naturally peace- 
able, but they have fought bravely against the Sioux when attacked. 
They belong to the Selish family. 

A few hundred of the Athapascans live on the banks of the Colum- 
bia River, Oregon, and they and other small tribes, although they do 
not attempt to fix the time, have traditions, which are borne out by 
geological evidences, that several of the peaks of the Cascade Moun- 
tains were active volcanoes. The Nez Perces, the Wallawallas, and 
other minor tribes occupy reservations or native grounds in Idaho and 
Oregon, on the Columbia or Snake River. 

THE APACHES. 

To set a fierce Apache against one of these fishing, hunting and 
trading Indians is a wonderful contrast, and remarkable when it is con- 
sidered that they are of the same stock. Only a few hundred of the 
15,000 or 20,000 who have fortified themselves in the Sierra Nevada 
and Rocky Mountains, along the rivers of the United States and Mex- 
ico, periodically issuing forth to harass settlers and give the national 
troops a brisk campaign, have been brought under government control. 
For fifty years previous to the war one of their wonderful chiefs brought 
imposing forces into the field, but with his death the tribe has scattered. 




TOTEM POLES AND INDIAN HUTS, FORT MANGELL, ALASKA. 
330 



THE DAKOTAS. 



331 



although the fragments are still troublesome enough. The Apaches 
fight upon the fly, being mounted upon small, wiry ponies, which are 
guided by a simple cord passed under the jaws. Their principal weapon 
is a very long, iron-pointed arrow, which they shoot with the most 
unerring precision. The chief, or captain of a band, in addition to the 
breech-cloth, or blanket, wears a buckskin helmet, ornamented with a 
feather. The common warrior goes dashing at his enemy bareheaded, 
and if he kills him disdains to take his scalp. Both sexes ornament 
themselves with pearl shells or rough carvings of wood, and wear high 
buckskin moccasins. Their feet being thus confined are so small that 
an Apache's trail is easily recognized. 

When in their mountain retreats the Apaches live in lodges built 
of light boughs and twigs, resting from their labors of the field and 
allowing the women to do all the work of collecting fuel, besides per- 
forming the regular duties of the household. Their songs are not 
weirdly sweet, and their card-playing, of which they are very fond, is 
probably not according to Hoyle; but their smoking is sedate and 
quite proper. The women as they move about, perhaps carrying infants 
in osier baskets at their backs, are seen to wear short petticoats and no 
ornaments. The African, the Polynesian, the Australian and the 
Esquimau, however much they may abuse their wives, generally allow 
them the feminine luxury of adorning their persons, but the Indian 
even cuts off this enjoyment. When the Apache travels he loads his 
wife with provisions, upon a horse, fastening the basket cradle of his 
papoose to the saddle. 

Should the warriors not return from battle the women cut off their 
long, loose hair as a sign of mourning. 

Montezuma seems to be an Apache deity, although the savage pro- 
fesses a belief in a Supreme Being. White birds and the bear are 
sacred to them, and the hog they consider unclean. 

THE DAKOTAS. 

The traditions of the Dakotas are more pregnant in thought to the 
student, who is forced to trace the progenitors of the American Indian to 
Asia, than those of any other of the Indian families. Their language, 
also, is Mongolian in its structure. According to their traditions they 
were driven back from the Mississippi River by the Algonquins, after 
they had slowly advanced from the Pacific Coast and the Northwest. 
Only one tribe, the Winnebagook (Winnebagoes), pushed through the 
ranks of their enemies, settHng on the shores of Lake Michigan, where 



2,2,^ 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



they were held in check. There, in the regions adjacent to Green Bay, 
they lorded it over many of the tribes with such a high hand that they 
were attacked and nearly exterminated by an allied Indian force. Yet 
they were still warlike and troublesome, and after they had ceded over 
two million and a half acres of their lands to the Government, they were 
removed west of the Mississippi, then hither and thither, to Dakota, 

Minnesota, Ne- 
braska — and 
where not? 
There, as in other 
States, they com- 
menced to culti- 
vate land, build 
cottages and 
schools, and 
dress and live 
like white men. 
It was formerly 
the practice of 
the agents to de- 
pose and appoint 
their chiefs at 
will ; now they 
are elected. 
The Winneba- 
goes left in Wis- 
consin are self- 
supporting and 
peaceable. 

Other tribes 
of the Dakota 
family have 
given us the 
following geo- 
graphical names: 
There were also 
remain within 




A SIOUX WARRIOR. 



Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Osage, Omaha and Sioux 

the Upsarokas, or Crows. A few of the family yet 

the British possessions, but the majority of them are on reservations 

in the northeastern part of Indian Territory, in Eastern Nebraska, in 

Southern Dakota and Montana. 



THE SIOUX. 2^^ 

THE SIOUX. 

The Sioux are still the powerful tribe of the family, as they always 
have been, and were the arch enemies of the Algonquins, especially the 
Chippewas. The fortunes of war were various, the Sioux preferring to 
fight upon the plain and the Chippewas in the woods, but, as has been 
stated, the Sioux were, after a century or so of warfare, driven from the 
headwaters of the Mississippi to the south. By the early part of this 
century the bulk of the nation was upon the Missouri River, although 
native villages were scattered from Northern Minnesota to the Black Hills. 
During the first part of our civil war the Sioux commenced to prepare 
for a general uprising, on account of dissatisfaction with the way they 
were being treated by the Government and its agents, and eventually 
the whole of Minnesota and the regions bordering on the Missouri, 
with the Western Plains, were the scenes of their massacres and hos- 
tilities. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills, and subsequent 
troubles with Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, on account of 
their reluctance to part with their grounds, are matters of recent record. 
Some of the most warlike bands fled to British territory, others agreed 
to go to their immense Dakota reservation. There 30,000 of them are 
supposed to cover 34,000,000 acres of land. Churches and schools 
have been established among them, and the younger generation show 
aptitude and patience. The settled bands have their tribal form of 
government, and are raisers of live-stock, and agriculturists ; notwith- 
standing which, the Sioux may yet be called an uncertain quantity in 
the Indian problem. 

In December, 1890, several thousand Sioux braves took the war 
path. Many of them were armed with Winchester rifles, and they were 
lashed into rebellion by a religious craze which took the form of a belief 
in an Indian Messiah who was to lead not only the living warriors but 
the ghosts of the dead against the white foes. They claimed also that 
Government agents were cheating them out of their rations. Actual 
hostilities were preceded by the "ghost dance," the Messiah fanatics 
being led on by the wily old mischief maker, Sitting Bull. 

United States troops were at once dispatched to the threatened 
scene of hostilities in Southwestern Dakota, near the Pine Ridge 
Agency, the Sioux braves gathering in the Bad Lands between the 
Cheyenne and White Rivers. The Indian police did brave work every- 
where. Among their most unfortunate ventures was the capture of Sit- 
ting Bull, as he, his sons and a party of warriors, were about starting 
from the vicinity of Standing Rock Agency, Grand River, to the ren- 



334 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

dezvous in the Bad Lands. Both men and ponies were in war paint, 
ready for mischief. Sitting Bull was seized, but not bound. The son of 
the old Medicine Man urged his comrades to recapture his father, and 
with yells the hostiles charged and fired upon the police. The police 
responded, and during the fierce fight the Medicine Man and his son 
were pierced with bullets. The government police were surrounded 
and would undoubtedly have been annihilated, had they not been res- 
cued by a cavalry force which brought two machine guns to bear 
upon the warlike Sioux. The death of Sitting Bull removed a dangerous 
fire-brand. Soon afterward, the Sioux were surrounded near Pine 
Ridge Agency, and gave up the fight as hopeless. 

INDIAN RELIGION AND MEDICINE. 

The Indian believes in the Good God and tne Bad God, and he 
speaks of the latter deity with the greatest disinclination. Gods and 
spirits of the plains, rivers and mountains also play a bold role in his 
faith. He does not apply morality to his religion, but whatever thwarts 
his aims he attributes to the Bad God. The Good God helps him to kill 
his enemy, steal the wife of a friend or raid a white settlement. No 
prayers are necessarily offered to the Good God. 

Death by strangulation bars the Indian out of the Happy Hunting 
Grounds, for his soul is supposed to escape through the mouth, which 
opens at the moment of dissolution. It was formerly a universal belief 
with the Indians of the plains that scalping an enemy annihilated his 
soul. This is now quite a general superstition ; also one that each per- 
son killed by them, and not scalped, will be their servant in the next 
world. They have their good omens and their bad. One of their most 
common ways of preparing medicine, which they use as it turns out 
good or bad, is to take earth, sand, ashes of plants or bones, and, mixing 
them in a shallow dish, stir the ingredients. If by the combination of 
colors and figures the Indian is convinced that his Good God has charge 
of his affairs, he places the mixture in tiny deer skin bags and ties them in 
his hair, upon the tail of his war horse and around the necks of his 
women and children. Should the mixture prove to be bad medicine, 
or an indication that his Bad God has the upper' hand, the stuff is taken 
outside the camp and secretly buried. The exact nature of this mixture 
is a close secret between the individual and his gods. He is forever 
making the medicine, and takes not the smallest step without consult- 
ing it. 

The Indians have different ways of propitiating the Evil One. 



THE SIOUX. 335 

When he brings them into great danger a common vow is to consecrate 
a pony to his service, should he allow them to escape. When this is 
done the animal is never again mounted, is treated with care and even 
tenderness. 

When the warrior dies the pony which is killed for him, and the 
weapons which are laid on his grave, will appear as phantoms and serve 
him in the Happy Hunting Grounds. If he falls in battle, cut or shot to- 
pieces, his shade, in the next world, will appear mutilated and imperfect. 
In fact, in every particular, he commences his spirit life in the beyond 
under the conditions which govern his material life. If a body is pierced 
with arrows, the Indian, particularly the Sioux, believes that the soul will 
be always tormented with ghostly arrows. Should a warrior, or his 
enemy be killed in the dark, darkness will be his eternal portion. The 
fear of meeting this fate has deterred more than one savage from 
murderous midnight attacks upon the wagon trains of the plains. 

There is nardly a tribe which agrees with another as to the length 
of time which it required for a soul to pass from this earth to the Happy 
Hunting Grounds ; the ideas vary from one to two days, to as many 
months. If the period is long, food and water are brought to the grave, 
generally by the female mourners. The entire journey is conceived to 
lie over a dreary space, devoid of all the necessities of life; hence the 
provisions, the phantoms of food and water to supply the needs of the 
spirit traveler. 

The Medicine Chief of a band of Indians divides the honors with 
the war chief, obtaining, if anything, more than an equal share. He is 
always dignified, the owner of the most attractive wives and ponies, holds 
no social intercourse with any except the principal men of the tribe, is 
the spiritual head of the tribe and the recipient of the confidences of the 
women, is the all-powerful physician of both body and soul, and when 
the fighting force takes the field, he proves his faith in his own power 
and religion by entering into the heat of the fight and the thick of the 
carnage. With the weakening of the authority of the head chief, the 
Medicine Chief has, if anything, gained in influence. 

The Medicine Chief is assisted in his work of exorcising evil spirits 
by a band of women, who howl to the drone of his incantations. Their 
wails and howls draw the women of the other lodges to the scene of 
action, and this deafening chorus is intensified by a muscular young 
priest who beats a tom-tom over the head of the poor patient. When 
the Medicine Chief dies, his successor steps into the coveted position 
only by coming forward with the claim that he has found the medi- 
cine which will keep away the Bad God, and then proving it by 
obtruding himself into every danger and coming out unscathed. 



336 THE world's fair. 

Many of the western tribes of Indians have a mysterious some- 
thing, which is in careful charge of the head chief or Medicine Chief, 
it being wrapped in a number of comphcated coverings. Its influ- 
ences are all good, and it is always carried in war, or on important expe- 
ditions, by the Medicine Chief. Each tribe, as well as each Indian, has, 
of course, a particular medicine; but this thing is different — it goes 
withou t a name. The tribal medicine of the Cheyennes is a bundle 
of arrows, wrapped in skins and placed in a small case of stiff raw-hide. 
It was captured by the Pawnees, some years ago, and the whole tribe 
was thrown into a panic, expecting instant annihilation. Runners were 
dispatched ; but the medicine was not regained until the Cheyennes 
had paid the Pawnees three hundred ponies. The Utes attribute many 
of their late troubles to the capture by the Arapahoes of a little squat 
stone figure which they had adopted as the " tribal medicine." 

THE MEDICINE DANCE. 

In former days the Medicine Chief had power of life and death 
over the actions of the dancers, each of whom was placed in a large 
ring, his eyes fixed upon an image suspended from above, and hav- 
ing in his mouth a small whistle ; as he danced hour after hour, he con- 
tinued to blow upon the whistle and keep his head painfully thrown 
back upon his shoulders. Eight or ten hours of this distressing per- 
formance would generally throw some of the warriors into a faint. 
They were then dragged out of the ring, and if not revived by the 
mystic figures which the priest painted upon their faces and bodies, cold 
water was thrown over them. He might order them back until they 
actually danced themselves to death. In case the dance progressed to 
the end of the appointed time without the occurrence of any misfor- 
tune, the tribe were assured of good medicine, which generally induced 
them to go to war. 

If the exhausted warriors could not be revived, the dance was broken 
up in confusion. The women shrieked and inflicted ghastly wounds 
upon themselves. The men howled and rushed off to kill their horses 
for the use of the warriors who had preceded them to the Happy Hunt- 
ing Grounds. Bad Medicine had been proclaimed ; the Bad God had 
them well in hand. 

The Indians still have their medicine dances (in lodges which the 
women construct), but the Medicine Chief is no longer autocrat, and 
whether the omen is good or bad is determined, in a general way, by 
the conduct of the different bands toward each other, by the attitude of 
the elements toward the festivities and by the fervor displayed in this 



BURIAL PLACES. ' 339 

aboriginal revival. The dancers, however, gaze at the same dangling 
image — the Good God (painted white) on one side, and the Bad God 
(black) on the other ; some enter to display their costumes, some to 
show their powers of endurance, and others from pure religious fervor 
or because they hope to thus propitiate the Bad God for some evil he 
has brought to them. But all are at liberty to withdraw when they see 
fit, the duration of the dance being fixed at four days. A United 
States officer, who lived for over thirty years among the Indians of the 
West, is authority for the statement that some of the dancers keep in 
motion before their image, blowing constantly upon their whistles, for 
seventy-five hours without sleep, food or drink. 

Succeeding the medicine dance, and occasionally as a portion of the 
proceedings, is the self-torture of the braves. Here the Medicine Chief 
also is master of ceremonies, and with his own hand makes the incisions 
in the muscles of the breast, through which horsehair ropes are passed 
and tied to pieces of wood ; or he uses his broad-bladed knife on the 
muscles of the back, lifting them from the bones and passing a rope 
underneath, with a stick at the end so as to keep it fast. The free ends 
of the ropes are either attached to poles of the lodge or to heavy mov- 
able objects, and the aim is to tear the sticks from the wounds and 
obtain freedom. Sometimes the Indian is unable at once to do this, and 
must remain without food or water until the tissues soften ; but it is 
good medicine to tear loose at once. As soon as freed, the warrior 
is examined by the Medicine Chief, and if all is right, religious cere- 
monies are gone through with and his wounds are properly attended to. 
He is honored and sung. Should one, however, during this fearful 
ordeal, which has been known to last several days, show any sign of 
weakness, he is sent away a disgraced man. 

BURIAL PLACES. 

Indian tribes who live in somewhat permanent villages select reg- 
ular burial grounds, often placing the corpse upon a scaffold which is 
roofed over with a frame work covered with skins. If the body is that 
of a warrior, it is dressed in the most gorgeous apparel, and hanging from 
his neck is his medicine bag. His weapons are by his side and his 
totem bag is tied to his lance or rifle. At his girdle, or on his lance 
or shield, are hung all the scalps he has taken in life. Pots, kettles and 
other utensils which he will need in his spirit journey are fastened to 
the platform outside, and over all are hung streamers of red and white 
cloth to frighten away beasts and birds of prey. 



240 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

Caves and the forks of trees are favorite burial places for wander- 
ing tribes. Women and female children of common people are put out 
of sight with as little ceremony as scalped warriors, or those who die 
except in the fight. Indians near the agencies frequently use for cof- 
fins the boxes which are sent to them filled with soap orcrackers. 

The burial customs of nearly all the Western tribes, except the 
Utes, have been quite carefully investigated by travelers and army 
officers. After the burial of one of their number, these Indians care- 
fully erase every footprint which may lead to a discovery of the place of 
interment. Although several army officers were present at the funeral 
of Ouray, the great Ute chieftain, they were ordered back when they 
attempted to accompany the body to the grave. The corpse was wrapped 
in a blanket thrown across a horse and taken away. When, a few 
weeks later, it was removed to Ouray's own country, the officers managed 
to b'^' taken along by the Indians and found the body in a natural 
cave which had been walled up with rocks. Another Ute grave, 
discovered by accident, was found in a hill, lined with stone walls. 

CIVILIZED AND SEMI-CIVILIZED. 

The Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws and Seminoles, all 
Southern tribes who previous to the war held slaves and were in arms 
against the United States Government, constitute now the Five Nations 
of the Indian Territory. They had previously developed quite a com- 
plete system of self-government, and generally retained their old con- 
stitutions when they were removed to the Indian Territory after the war. 

THE CHEROKEES. 

The Cherokees have their peculiarities of language and organiza- 
tion which entitle them to be considered a distinct family. They for- 
merly occupied portions of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Georgia and Alabama in the valleys of the Allegheny Mountains, the 
Upper Tennessee and the headwaters of the Savannah and Flint 
Rivers. They consist of seven clans, and members of the same clan 
are forbidden to marry. They fought with the English against the 
French with such effect that Louisiana made, great efforts to obtain 
their friendship. 

With the capture of slaves, in their wars, the Cherokees com- 
menced to give more attention to the cultivation of land and less to 
war. The nation divided, a portion crossing the Mississippi and the 
balance remaining on their own lands. They were aided by the United 



'■''^&. 




CREEKS AND SEMINOLES. 343 

States Government, which furnished them with agricultural implements 
and mills. As the white population clamored for their lands, however, 
they gradually ceded them to the Government until they were in pos- 
session of but a mountainous tract of 8,000 square miles in the States; 
of Georgia and North Carolina. Gradually they were crowded out of 
these States and removed to the Indian Territory. 

Different factions of the eastern and western divisions prevented a 
union of the nation until 1839, but by the commencement of the war 
it was very prosperous. Printing presses were at work, turning off 
newspapers and books both in English and Cherokee ; grain, cotton, 
salt, cattle and horses were all elements of their wealth. At the break- 
ing out of the civil war the nation's warriors, who numbered over 
15,000, divided their allegiance, and their territory was ravaged by both 
armies. The slaves of the Cherpkees were, of course, emancipated, 
but they themselves gained in habits of industry. 

Their territory now comprises about 5,000,000 acres, two-thirds of 
which is unfit for cultivation. The chief of the nation is elected for 
four years. The country is divided into eight districts, and the citizens 
are governed by a National Committee and Council, elected for two 
years. The Cherokees lead the five nations in the cultivation of wheat, 
corn and oats. They have neat villages, schools, churches and public 
buildings, and are a noteworthy evidence of Indian civilization, 

CREEKS AND SEMINOLES. 

The Creeks are allied to the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Seminoles,. 
and occupied a territory which was bounded on the north by that of the 
Cherokees, but stretched south into Florida. Not being able to trace 
iheir origin beyond a certain point, they claim to have sprung from the 
earth and emigrated from the northwest. They settled principally along: 
the streams of Georgia and Florida, where they were found by the 
English and called Creeks. 

Two bands of the Creeks who remained in Florida and intermarried 
with negroes and Spaniards form the Seminole Indians. The Creeks 
called them Seminoles, or Wanderers, and it was the latter's refusal to 
be bound by a treaty made by the Creek nation with the United States 
which precipitated the war in Florida which was so disastrous both to 
them and to the United States. The Creeks were divided into a num- 
ber of distrinct tribes, including the Alabamas and Natchez, who figured 
for years in Southern troubles, but fifty years ago the Government 
succeeded in removing, all but a few hundred, to Arkansas. The civil 
war split them asunder as it did the Cherokees, and they suffered severely. 



344 'THE WORLD S FAIR. 

After the war both i^ections were removea to their reservation. Their 
form of government is not so repubHcan as that of the Cherokees 
retaining more of the tribal features. 

Notwithstanding all efforts to consolidate them, the Seminoles have 
retained their individuality and form one of the most progressive of the 
nations. They have missions and district schools, are steady and 
industrious. 

CHOCTAWS AND CHICKASAWS. 

The Choctaws and Chickasaws speak the same language and have 
a tradition that they came with the Creeks from west of the Mississippi. 
The Cnoctaws attained more to the dignity of a nation, for, with their 
allied tribes, they formerly occupied nearly all the coast territory from 
the Mississippi to the Atlantic. When the French first came among 
them they were in the habit of flattening the heads of their children 
with bags of sand, and therefore became known as Flatheads. They 
were allies of the French, and did splendid service for them against the 
Natchez, Chickasaws and other hostile tribes. The State of Georgia 
offered them the rights of citizenship, but they preferred to cede their 
lands and move with the Chickasaws to Arkansas. 

They were already a nation, in fact, as in name, and are still governed 
by a written constitution, substantially adopted in 1838. They are 
governed by a chief elected for a term of four years, by a National 
Council and a regular judiciary. Trial by jury is also a feature of their 
government. Besides exhibiting other evidences of the white man's 
civilization, the Choctaws comprise a distinguished member of the Five 
nations as being the principal lumbermen of the group. 

The Chickasaws at first formed a part of the Choctaw nation, but, 
subsequently organized a government of their own, consisting of a 
Governor, Senate and House of Representatives. The Chickasaw 
nation embraces a. decided negro element; for instead of giving up a 
proportion of their lands to the Government, the proceeds of which were 
to go to their former slaves, the nation adopted them into their tribe. 

The curious products, and manufactures collected not only from the 
tribes of the Indian Territory, but from the Pueblos of New Mexico — 
who, from the earliest of times, have lived in their great mud houses or 
fortresses — these form a department of our World's Fair of much inter- 
est. It enforces the truth — especially to strangers — that even the 
Indians of North America are not all savages. 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 




FIGURATIVE AND REAL. 

P to this point the discoverers of America have been intro- 
duced, both ancient and modern. The great nations which 
will take the most prominent part in the Columbian Exposi- 
tion have also been brought forward. The natives whom 
Columbus and his successors found in possession of the soil of 
the Americas — some of them warring savages, others con- 
solidated nations, well advanced in art and government — have just been 
presented. 

Undoubtedly, the most prodigious result of the Columbian discov- 
eries is the United States of America, and its grand center and the heart 
of the great Columbian Exposition is the government of the United 
States. No one should therefore forget for a moment that the Republic, 
as a government, is Anglo-Saxon. A charter was never granted to a 
colony in America, from that of Virginia in 1606 to that of Georgia in 
1732, which did not stipulate that the laws should conform, as nearly as 
possible, to those of Great Britain. Yet it is a common delusion that 
our constitution, armed with justice and power, sprung instantly from the 
brain of American statesmen. It was, in reality, a growth — a slow, a 
weary, a painful growth. The wonder should be not at its final vigor^ 
but that the birth should have been so long delayed, and, although we 
cut ourselves clear from all entangling alliances with England — whether 
statutory or otherwise — that the spirit of the English laws, the jewels of 
the English constitution, purified and brightened, should have been made 
to do such splendid service for another people and another land. But in 
this parallelism, which even the Declaration of Independence did not 
disturb, lies the hope of the future union of all English-speaking races. 
But although each colonial charter stipulated that American laws 
were to conform, as nearly as possible, to those of Great Britain, the 
modifying clause covered the loop-hole through which much democ- 
racy found a way into our constitution. The first of the charters — that 

345 



346 THE world's fair. 

granted to Raleigh — provided for the estabHshment of a virtual mon- 
archy in Virginia, the head of the colony being the creator of its laws. 

In the founding of the Plymouth Colony, however, there was a partial 
severance of the close tie which bound the colonial laws to the English 
constitution. In fact, for over seventy years Plymouth existed without a 
royal charter. It finally obtained its lands from the New England Com- 
pany; but the colonists were authorized to make no laws, and the Pilgrims 
had no right to land where they did. In a word, it was held by 
some that they were bound by nothing, and they threatened to do as 
they pleased the moment they landed. As one of the pilgrims says: 
" Some of the strangers had let fall in the ship that when they came 
ashore they would use their own liberty, for none had power to command 
thenj; the patent they had being for Virginia and not for New England — 
which belonged to another government, with which the Virginia Com- 
pany had nothing to do." It was evident that something must be done, 
and done quickly. So, as the ship rounded Cape Cod and anchored in 
the harbor, the following compact was drawn up and signed by those who 
were the recognized leaders in the enterprise: "In the name of God, 
amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our 
dread sovereign lord King Jaqies, by the grace of God, of Lireat Britain, 
France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc., having under- 
taken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith and 
honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the 
northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, 
in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine our- 
selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and pres- 
ervation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to 
enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, 
constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most 
meet and convenient for the general good of the colony, under which 
we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we 
have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod the nth of Novem- 
ber, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord King James, of 
England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty- 
fourth, Anno Dom. 1620." 

It was from Plymouth Rock, from Massachusetts Bay, from Rhode 
Island and Connecticut, in fact, that the earliest forms of democracy issued, 
and not from such colonies as Virginia and Maryland. They were to 
come nobly forward, in the promulgation and vindication of popular 
principles, at a later day. It is, therefore, no carelessly grounded senti- 



FIGURATIVE AND REAL. 



347 



ment which has generally seized upon the hearts of Americans — that of 
fixing upon the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers as the real birth of 
America. 

The Revolutionary War, which removed many restrictions upon the 
material growth of the country, gave birth to the United States as an 
industrial nation. Forges and rolling mills sprung up in Pennsylvania 
and New York, bomewhat later came the banks and insurance compa- 
nies of Philadelphia, and Webster's first American school books. Whit- 
ney, the Massachusetts school teacher, went down into Georgia and 
(1793) invented the cotton gin. During the same year Thomas Jefferson 




MONUMENT AT PLYMOUTH, OVER 

THE ROCK UPON WHICH THE 

PILGRIMS LANDED. 



became the father of the modern plow, although he obtained no patent 
for his mould-board which so neatly turned the soil of his Virginia farm. 
Several years later the first regular cast-iron plows were patented, and 
were made in New Jersey. In 1789 appeared the cotton and woolen 
factories of Massachusetts and Connecticut, which were the pioneers of 
their kind in America. 

When the United States entered the nineteenth century, her Indus- 
tries and inventions made her simply a wonder-land. Think of the listl 



348 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

In 1803, Hoe brought out his steam printing press, and was, for years, 
the peer of any European manufacturer. Fulton, in 1807, made the first 
steamboat in the world which really "went." Pins were first manufac- 
tured in England (1824), being turned out by an American machine. 
An American first suggested the locomotive, the idea was adopted by 
England and an engine put on the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad 
in 1829, and in 1830 the first locomotive built in this country was made 
at Peter Cooper's iron works, near Baltimore. American mowing ma- 
chines, reapers and steam plows fell into line with the English inventions, 
in the early 30's. The first successful reaping machine (1833) was 
purely an American invention, the famous McCormick reapers being 
patented in 1834. The first submarine cable in the world was put in 
operation (1842) by Prof. Morse, in New York harbor; the same brilliant 
and patient genius, in 1844, sent the first message over a regular tele- 
graph line (from Washington to Baltimore) ; and the father of practical 
telegraphy was also the originator of the transatlantic cable, first laid 
in 1858. The modern propeller is, beyond dispute, an American inven- 
tion of 1 84 1. The Howe (patented 1846) was the first sewing machine 
to approach the domestic wonder of the present. From 1860-62, the 
Ericsson Monitor, the Parrott gun, the Spencer rifle, the Catling gun, 
etc., added to our fame in a new direction, and from 1868 on, the type- 
writer, telephone, phonograph and other inventions have maintained the 
reputation of Americans as the foremost of inventors. The exhibit by 
the Patent Office will be as interesting as any to be made at the World's 
Fair. 

These running remarks take no account of the educational, the 
charitable, the reformatory and the religious institutions, which flourished 
in the colonies and have been growing ever since. They do not touch 
the various phases of art — art which scarcely lived in this country before 
the Revolutionary War. The intent was to place a few landmarks along 
the pathway of our material progress. The Columbian Exposition will 
prove that Americans are lovers of art and the higher life, and artists 
and doers as well; but its main purpose, after all, is to show to the world 
what we have done for it and ourselves in producing useful things — in 
making our mark as practical people, awake to every human want, and 
anxious not only to get ahead ourselves but to improve the nations by 
supplying them with comforts and conveniences. 



FATHERS OF OUR WORLD'S FAIR, 




THE VERY OLDEST. 

»AIRS date from the earliest times; world's fairs only from 
1851. The earliest fairs were for barter and sale; the later 
ones for purposes of exhibition merely. 

There are records of Greek and Roman fairs before the time 
of Christ, but the records are, of course, incomplete. Games 
were features of the fairs, although the main object for which 
they were established was to bring buyers and sellers together under 
the most favorable auspices — in other words, to create a market for 
goods. Means of transportation were limited, and in consequence it was 
hard for the buyer to go to the seller, and vice versa. Matters were 
simplified, and both parties benefited by locating the fair on a grand cen- 
tral market-place, to which, at specified times, the merchant could come 
with his goods and the purchaser with his money. The purchaser had 
much to choose from, and the merchant had many buyers of his wares. 
To add to the enjoyment of the occasion, the time of the fair was 
made a holiday and all kinds of entertainment were provided. Every- 
thing possible was done to attract great crowds, and in this way to 
stimulate trade. Furthermore, arrangements were made for the prompt 
settlement of all disputes arising on the grounds. Was there a differ- 
ence between buyer and seller? No need to put the case on the already 
crowded docket of the Roman Circuit Court, or whatever its prototype 
may have been; a special court was provided to promptly settle the 
matter on the spot. It is probable that these courts also had much to 
do with the settling of disputes over bets made on the games; but con- 
cerning that, history is discreetly silent. 

From these fairs the World's Columbian Exposition is directly 
descended, and it is not as difficult to trace the descent as one might 
suppose. They spread all over Europe and Asia, and it was an unim- 
portant place indeed that did not have a fair at least once a year, to 
which came all the merchants from the surrounding country. The larger 



350 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

the city the greater the display and the more important the fair. The 
great fair at Mecca was perhaps one of the most important in early days. 

In France, an annual fair was started in 629 by Dagobert. It was 
held at St. Denis, and for 1,160 years never missed a year. That is a 
record that has never been beaten in the way of annual fairs. So suc- 
cessful was this that in the year 800 fairs were established at Troyes and 
Aix la Chapelle and continued for several centuries. Guibray fell into 
line in 1 100, and Beaucaire in 1300. These fairs became larger and 
more important, and finally began securing exhibits from foreign nations — 
in fact, they began to touch pretty closely on what we consider world's 
fairs at the present time. As transportation facilities increased, the 
barter and sale feature became less pronounced, and the exhibitive feature 
more so. 

It was in 1800 that Paris began to have her fairs, and she has prob- 
ably done more than any other one city toward perfecting them. Napo- 
leon took hold of them in 1802, and after that year they were held tri- 
ennially. In 1844, Paris decided to hold a fair that should be a real 
world's institution — one to which all nations should be invited — but 
London forestalled her. 

The first fairs of England, by the way, were of a religious nature, 
and were almost invariably held on church property. Alfred the Great 
inaugurated one in 886, and it was continued for a number of years. 
The Priory of St. Bartholomew started one in 1133, and continued it till 
1855. The Donnybrook fair of Ireland is well known even to this day. 
Its exhibit of shillalies is said to have been a remarkably good one. 
Other fairs were held at Norwich, Weyhill, Ipswich and Ballinasloe, and 
were continued up to the time of the great fair of 1851. 

Germany also had a great many fairs in early times, although 
France and England both lead it. Leipsic began a series about the year 
1200, and Frankfort-on-the-Main and Brunswick promptly fell in line. 
Holland, Russia, China and Japan all did their share in the way of fairs, 
but the records of them — particularly in the last two countries —are very 
incomplete. The time that Holland's fairs were open was made a public 
holiday, and the same was true of Russia. Two were held at Nijni- 
Novgorod each year — one in the summer and one in the winter. The lat- 
ter was held on the ice. Little is known of the fairs of China and Japan. 

Nearly all of these fairs grew in size and importance until London 
and Paris started in simultaneously on a grand scale in 1844. London 
got a trifle the start, and after postponing the exhibition once or twice, 
finally held it in 185 1. 



THE FIRST REAL WORLD'S FAIR. 351 



THE FIRST REAL WORLD'S FAIR. 

The London Fair of 1S51 was the first really modern and universa'. 
exhibition — the first to be world-wide in its conception and execution. 
The nobility of the enterprise was worthy of the cultivated mind and the 
large soul of the Christian Prince Albert, and was a notice to the world 
that the era of peace between nations had at last been conceived by a 
powerful ruler of men. 

Prince Albert of England, then, was the father of the modern 
world's fair, which was born in this wise: In the spring of 1849, before 
the Society of Arts, he outlined the plan of a great industrial exhibition 
of all nations, to take place in 185 1, dwelling with fervor upon the happy 
results to be anticipated from such an enterprise. In July following, the 
Prince, in the name of the Society which now espoused the cause, applied 
to the government for the appointment of a royal commission to organ- 
ize and manage such an exhibition. Great meetings were held at the 
Mansion House and elsewhere to arouse public interest, and, early in 
1850, the commission was appointed, with Prince Albert at its head, A 
very large guarantee fund was promptly subscribed, the consent of the 
crown for holding the exhibition in Hyde Park obtained, and, in Sep- 
tember following, with less than eight months' time for work, the build- 
ing of the original Crystal Palace of the world was commenced. Two 
thousand workmen were engaged, however, and rapid progress was 
made. The colossal building, over a third of a mile in length, covering 
nineteen acres — more than seven times the ground area of St. Paul's 
Cathedral — was, in good time, turned over to the Royal Commission, 
Punctually, on May i, 1851, the Crystal Palace Exhibition was opened by 
the Queen in person. Prince Albert in an address explaining the purposes 
of the undertaking, and many of the nobility, including the Duke of 
Wellington, Lord Palmerston, the Marquis of Anglesea and others, 
taking part in the ceremonials. 

Hyde Park, the site of the first World's Fair, originally laid out by 
Henry VIII., and for many generations one of the most frequented re- 
sorts of London, has been made famous as the scene both of state 
pageantries and military reviews and popular demonstrations. It is the 
rendezvous both of aristocrat and plebeian. Its location is midway be- 
tween Charing Cross, or the center of London, and its western outskirts. 
The park is one of the pleasant gardens of England, covering 390 
acres and blending the splendors of noble fountains, statuary, arches and 



352 , THE WORLD S FAIR. 

monuments with the purer beauty of wide lawns, vast beds of flowers 
and rows of majestic trees. In its immediate vicinity are the houses of 
such celebrities as the Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Cambridge and 
Baron Rothschild. Kensington Gardens, Kensington Palace and Hol- 
land House are also close at hand. Its drives are the most noted in the 
world, the site being favored with such wide and easy approaches from, 
central London that, of the estimated 6poo,ooo visitors to the Fair» 
nearly ten per cent, of the attendance was by private conveyance. 

The total number of exhibitors was 13,937, England contributing 
6,861, her colonies 520, the United States 499, Persia 12, China 30, 
Greece 36, Denmark 39, France, Germany and the other European 
countries furnishing the remainder. The classification was simple and 
consisted of four great sections — raw material and produce, machinery, 
manufactures and fine arts. The awards were a Medal of Honor, a Prize 
Medal and a certificate of Honorable Mention, the United States re- 
ceiving 160 awards, including 102 prize medals. A special feature of 
the exhibit consisted of the American buggies and coaches, pianos, reap- 
ing machines and rubber goods. The most conspicuous feature in the 
very meager department of arts was Powers' Greek Slave. 

The estimated value of exhibits was $9,000,000. The gate receipts 
were $[,780,000, to which enough was added from sale of space and 
privileges to return a profit of $930,000 to the managers, after deducting 
$965,000 (cost of structure) and $716,000 (operating expenses). During 
the six months of the exhibition $20,000,000 was added to the wealth of 
London. Thus the first World's Fair, while entirely experimental, was 
a financial success, and entirely creditable to the public spirit of the 
British nation. 

WORLD'S FAIR, NEW YORK, 1853. 

One important and immediate effect of the London Fair was to 
stimulate the nations of both hemispheres to efforts in a similar direc- 
tion. Within eight years' time the ambitious capitals of the world had 
given either world's fairs or special expositions on a new scale of mag- 
nificence. Dublin came first in 1853, with what proved a failure as an 
international effort, but which brought out the finest collection of paint- 
ings ever before presented to the public. New York followed, the same 
year, with her "Exhibition of the Industries of All Nations:" Paris com- 
ing forward in 1855 with her brilliant and pretentious show, a year behind 
Melbourne, with her palace of glass, and Munich, with her 7,000 ex- 



world's fair, new YORK, 1 853. 353 

hibitors who were scattered by the approach of cholera. Manchester 
fell into line with her World's Fair of Art, in 1857, preceded by Brussels 
and her gorgeous "Industrial Celebration" — Lausanne, Turin and Hano- 
ver joining the procession at various intervals from 1857 to 1859. 

The first international exhibition, after that of London, to command 
the recognition of the world was that held at New York in 1853. The 
magnitude of such an undertaking does not appear to have been fully 
realized at that early day, the Fair Association having an original capital 
of but 1200,000, the only addition to that fund being secured by subscrip- 
tions to stock through the banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Co. 

The site selected was several acres of ground corner bixth avenue 
and Forty-second street, lying about two miles north of the outer resi- 
dence district. It was central to the main railways, and near the banks 
of the Hudson Riven The work of construction was commenced late 
in August, 1852, and, with its annex, the two-story main building cov- 
ered an area of six acres. It was designed in the Moorish style of 
architecture, composed entirely of wood, iron and glass, and, out of 
courtesy to the architects rather than from fidelity to art or truth, has 
ever since been known to fame as the New York "Crystal Palace." It 
was formally opened to the world on July 14, 1853 — President Pierce, 
Gen. Winfield Scott, Jefferson Davis (then Secretary of War), Caleb 
Cushing, Governor Seymour, of New York, and many other eminent 
personages, both Americans and foreigners, being present. The build- 
ing, less in size than a first-class dry goods store, and less ornate than a 
first-class passenger depot, was yet in an unfinished condition; but the 
exhibition proceeded without embarrassment and with 4,100 exhibitors — 
a little less than one-half of whom were composed of American manu- 
facturers, merchants, inventors and artists. England, with her dignified 
generosity, and France, true to her splendid instinct of international 
courtesy, contributed the main line of exhibits from abroad. The classi- 
fication of articles was the same as at London — raw materials, machinery, 
manufactures and fine arts. The latter formed an important feature of 
the exposition and occupied the entire gallery of the second building or 
annex. Owing to the multiplicity of American manufactures, the ex- 
hibits took a very wide range, with farm implements, machinery, wagons 
and carriages, pianos and organs, printing presses, leather, iron and 
rubber goods and cotton fabrics as the prominent features. England 
sent liberally of her cutlery, woolen fabrics and articles of utility; France 
contributing abundantly of her silks and broadcloths, wines, perfumeries. 



354 THE WORLDS FAIR, 

pictures and ornaments; Switzerland of clocks and music-boxes; and 
Germany of musical instruments and cheese. 

Financially, the New York World's Fair was not a success, the total 
attendance being estimated at 1,500,000, and receipts from all sources 
at $340,000. The cost of building and other expenses amounted to 
-$640,000, a loss of $300,000 being thus entailed upon the stockholders. 

Horace Greeley, a director in the undertaking, was arrested while 
in Paris and confined in Clichy prison, at the suit of a French exhibitor 
whose property was alleged to have been damaged by the reckless hand- 
ling of the proverbial American "baggage smasher." Otherwise, the 
World's Fair, New York, 1853, was without historic incident. 

WORLD'S FAIR, PARIS, 1855. 

The city of Paris has now given the world a series of four brilliant 
and successful international exhibitions, beginning with the memorable 
event of 1855 and culminating, in 1889, in one of the most splendid 
triumphs of the modern world and of all civil history. There are many 
reasons why Paris should have put forth earnest and repeated endeavor 
to win fame as a world's fair city. In the first place, sentiment has ever 
been a most potent factor in all French enterprises. And there can be 
no doubt that the laurels of success, the glories of a great civil triumph 
won by England in her initial London effort, exerted a powerful and per- 
manent influence in awakening the fiery ambition of Paris and of France — 
an ambition that accounts for that constant renewal of exertion from 
1885 to 1889. 

The World's Fair of Paris, 1855, "^^^ the conception of a commercial 
association, which, after securing the Champs Elysees as the site, began 
the erection of the proper buildings. Emperor Napoleon, however, 
with the support of the government, assumed the management, taking 
all risks, guaranteeing the company a percentage of profits, and contrib- 
uting $2,750,000 to the building fund. Imperial Commissioners, ap- 
pointed by the Emperor, with Prince Napoleon at their head, constituted 
the board of responsibility, direction and control. The exhibition, for 
the first time thus far in World's Fair history, was held in separate de- 
partment buildings — the Palace of Industry, Machinery Hall and Palace 
of Fine Arts, the latter being located at quite a distance from the other 
two. The total space occupied by these structures was 1,866,000 square 
feet, the approaches and open spaces subsidiary to the exhibition making 
about forty acres. 



London's fair of 1862. 355 

Champs Elysees, the site of the first great Paris fair, is a wide 
oblong plain and promenade, on the northeast bank of the Seine, adja- 
cent, on the east^ to the great centers of Paris and near to the palaces 
of the Tuileries and the Louvre. It is called the Elysian Fields in clear 
irony, for it has hardly the Elysian sweetness or color of one blade of 
grass, or one red rose, or one green leaf, to temper the pale clay of its 
wide expanse, every square foot of which has been hammered and flat- 
tened into adamant by the tramp of a hundred million human feet. It 
was elected as a World's Fair site, apparently, because it was the univer- 
sal promenade of Paris, afforded ample room, and was easy of access to 
the body of the people. 

The total number of exhibitors on this occasion was 23,954, divided 
almost evenly between France and outside countries, and exceeding the 
number at London in 1851 by 10,017. The attendance numbered 5,1 62,- 
330, the largest one day's attendance being on Sunday, Sept. 9 (123,017 
persons). The total cost of the exhibition was 15,000,000, the main 
item being the Palace of Industry, $2,750,000, a permanent structure^ 
a noble monument of the great event, and now among the distinctive 
attractions of the city. The total receipts were 1644,100, showing a loss 
of over 14,000,000 to the government, though $30,000,000 are estimated 
to have been expended in Paris by visitors. The classification of ex- 
hibits was in eight groups and thirty-one classes. Ten thousand five 
hundred and sixty-four awards were made. One grand medal of honor 
was awarded to C. H. McCormick, of Chicago. 

An important feature of this first Paris Fair was the interest taken 
in it by the English government and nation. The Queen, Prince Albert 
and the Prince of Wales were among the visitors, several thousand British 
workmen were sent over free of charge, and the British section of the 
fair was a more complete representation of the products of the United 
Kingdom than was that at London in 1851. The United States sent 
but 144 exhibitors. The fabrics of Europe were well represented, but 
the department which, by personal and official encouragement of the 
Emperor and Prince Napoleon, became the one of supreme interest and 
importance, such as to lend it prominence in all subsequent international 
fairs, was the department of fine arts. 

LONDON'S FAIR OF 1862. 

London's second international exhibition, the fourth in the great 
modern series, was opened on May i, 1862, and closed November 15. 
The original idea was to hold a decennial exhibition, which would have 



356 THE world's fair. 

dated the event in i86f, but the national loss, in the death of Prince 
Albert, occasioned the postponement of a year, and dimmed the luster 
of the great event by forbidding the state pageantry that would other- 
wise have been incident to the opening. The site chosen was the Hor- 
ticultural Society's garden in South Kensington, on the elevated grounds 
between Hyde Park and Windsor Castle, and a mile distant from the 
site of 1851. The general environment of the point chosen was, in re- 
spect of historic landmarks and associations, of almost equal interest 
with the former location, being rich with scenes from the lives of Wilber- 
force, Sheridan, Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Holland and some of the later 
sovereigns of the British empire. Kensington Palace, originally known 
as Nottingham House, was purchased by William III., in 1690, by whom 
large sums of money were expended in its improvement. The site is 
nearer the Thames, and with about the same approaches from London 
centers as those that accommodated the populace in 185 1. The main 
buildings of London's second World's Fair covered an area of over 
twenty-three acres, including two annexes east and west of the Horticul- 
tural Gardens. The area of space roofed in was nearly double that of 
the Crystal Palace, but its buildings, in point of architecture and deco- 
rative features, have never favorably compared with the earlier structure. 
The cost of buildings was #1,605,000, other expenses bringing the total 
cost of the exhibition to #2,300,000. The Duke of Cambridge presided 
at the opening, 30,000 people being present, including a few of the no- 
bihty and many foreign guests and visitors, with the Japanese embassy 
in full court costume. A choir of 2,000 voices and an orchestra of 200 
musicians added to the pleasures of the entertainment. The enter- 
prise, conducted with the advantage of former experience, devel- 
oped many advantages. In addition to a reading room, a telegraph 
office, a money-order system and a bank, a postoffice was established, 
through which there passed, during the first six months, 21 1,500 letters. 
Among other new features were comfortable restaurants, to which 74,000 
square feet of space was allotted, and at which the sale of wines and 
malt liquors was not forbidden. 

The total of the receipts from all sources is given at $1,644,260, or 
less than total expenses by $655,740, thus showing the enterprise to have 
been a financial failure. The number of exhibitors was 28,653, of more 
than double the number in 1 851, and included 2,305 artists. The total 
attendance was 6,211,000, with a daily average of 36,328 visitors, the 
largest number for one day being 67,891. 

There were no gradations of medals, the only two forms of award 



PARIS, 1867. 357 

being the Medal and lionorable Mention. In all, 13,423 jury awards 
were rendered, the United States, with 128 exhibitors, securing 58 Med- 
als and 3 I Honorable Mentions. Beside the Department of Fine Arts, 
there were thirty-six classes of exhibits, the most important of which 
were those of machinery, carriages, furniture, musical instruments, me- 
chanics' tools, woolen and cotton fabrics, and general hardware. At the 
close of the exhibition, which seemed to have awakened less national 
enthusiasm and less of general interest throughout Europe than was an- 
ticipated, all of the buildings were torn down with the exception of the 
picture galleries, which have since been used for the National Portrait 
Exhibition. 

PARIS, 1867. 

The Second International Exhibition given by Paris — the fifth in the 
World's great series — was held in 1867. It was now more essentially a 
state undertaking than on the first occasion; but the idea, although 
originating with the Emperor, was in keeping with the manifest inclina- 
tion of the people. The site selected for this event, as for the subse- 
quent fairs of 1878 and 1889, was the Champs de Mars, a public square 
of 105 acres, on the opposite side of the Seine and a quarter of a mile 
farther northeast from Central Paris than the former location. The 
Champs de Mars was the scene of the Festival of Federation, preceding 
the French Revolution. It was the scene, too, of the last imperial cere- 
mony of the First Empire, June i, 18 15, when Napoleon entered in 
coronation state, drawn by eight white horses, to receive homage from 
assembled Paris. It was a fit site for a World's Fair, celebrated by the 
court of France and drawing such state guests as the Czar of Russia, the 
Sultan of Turkey, the Khedive of Egypt, Bismarck and the King of 
Prussia, the Prince of Wales and. the Kings of Denmark, Portugal and 
Sweden. The main building of the Exposition presented the form of a 
grand architectural oval, 1,550x1,250 feet, covering eleven acres. The 
oval form was selected by Prince Napoleon with a view to facilitating 
and simplifying the arrangement of exhibits, by classes and countries, so 
that the visitor could follow a single class of products through every 
nation until he arrived again at his starting point; or, desiring informa- 
tion regarding a single nation, he could simply confine himself to that 
section of the elliptic. Smaller structures increased the area of buildings 
to 37 acres, with 52 acres of the island of Billancourt as an agricultural 
annex. The seventy remaining acres of the Champs de Mars were laid 
out in gardens and fountains, and covered with specimens of the archi- 



358 THE world's fair. 

tecture of diflerent nations — Turkish mosques, Russian slobodas, Swiss 
chalets, Tunisian kiosks, Swedish cottages, English light-houses, Egypt- 
ian temples, caravansaries, etc. The formal opening took place April i, 
the exhibition being open on Sundays. There were 50,226 exhibitors 
about twice the former number, the total attendance being 10,200,000 
and total receipts #2,103,675. The cost to the government, over and 
above that sum, is estimated at about 17,000,000, the compensation being 
found in the vast addition to the revenues of Paris. 

The exhibits were divided and sub-divided into a limited number of 
departments and classes, the French, Italian and German contributions 
in the fine arts, the English exhibit of her iron and steel industries, and 
the United States display of machinery and inventive appliances forming 
conspicuous features. The British government, in practical appreciation 
of this Exposition as a universal school of instruction, again sent over 
some thousands of English workmen, free of expense, and who, at a later 
date, made full reports on all branches of industry. The United States 
was represented by 536 exhibitors, a small number, but great in com- 
parison with the fornrier occasions and sufficient to show a healthy growth 
of interest. The percentage of awards to this country exceeded that to 
any other nation excepting France. A notable incident of the close 
of this World's Fair was the meeting of official representatives of -all the 
most prominent nations, and the promulgation of opinions bearing upon 
the management of future International Expositions; one of those opin- 
ions was that no prizes of any kind ought to be awarded, but that reports 
on every class of exhibits should be made and signed by an international 
jury. Another recommendation was that future exhibitions be held in 
rotation in various capitals. 

THE VIENNA WORIsD'S FAIR, 1873. 

The idea of an International Exhibition at Vienna originated with 
the Board of Trade of that city, of which Baron Weitheimer was presi- 
dent. That wealthy body having raised the sum of $1,500,000 as a 
preliminary, the government, early in 1870, took an active part, advanced 
the sum of $3,000,000, named a commission of 300 from among leading 
officers of state and men of science and industry, and announced May i, 
1873, as the date of opening. All Europe became interested, each of the 
nations appointing a semi-royal commission to honor and encourage the 
enterprise, the commissioners including the leading statesmen, philoso- 
phers and industrial magnates of the old world. 



PHILADELPHIA CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION, 1 876. 36 1 

The Prater, a noble park three miles northeast from Central Vienna, 
near the banks of the Danube and the terminus of the Northern and 
Eastern railways, was selected as the site. The Prater is the Hyde Park 
of the Empire. It became the property of the imperial family in 1570 
and was opened as a public pleasure ground by Emperor Joseph II in 
1776, and for more than a century has been the resort of all Vienna. 
The actual exhibition area was 280 acres. The main building, a central 
nave 2,953x84 ft. and 74 ft. in height, with sixteen transepts, 573x54 ft.,, 
enclosed a central rotunda 354 ft. in diameter. The transepts were con- 
nected by facades and enclosed courts or gardens. Machinery hall, with 
nearly ten acres of floorage, was the main feature. The art building to 
the east, 600x100 ft., included a grand corridor for statuary. The de- 
partment of agriculture, was confined to three vast frame buildings,, 
covering about six acres. Exhibits were classified in twenty-six groups^ 
and followed the plan of London and Paris. There were seven forms of 
award : Diplomas of Honor, Medals for Progress, Honorable Mention,, 
Medals of Merit, Medals for Good Taste, Fine Arts Medal and Medals, 
awarded to workmen. There were 70,000 exhibitors, the 654 from the 
United States receiving 442 awards. The criticism usually applied to the 
Vienna Exhibition was that it was "too big." It was cumbersome, un- 
wieldy, elephantine and distracting. Edward Everett Hale said that it was 
a specimen of the world, but one would want a smaller museum for a spec- 
imen of the exhibition. Owing to the fact that living was made inordi- 
nately high in Vienna through the rapacity of hotels, lodging houses, 
restaurants, etc., attendance was comparatively meager — a total of 
3,492,622 in 186 days. The total receipts from all sources are estimated 
at about 11,750,000, so that, the official buildings having cost nearly 
$8,000,000 above operating expenses, the financial loss entailed was 
something stupendous. During the exposition, trials in agriculture took 
place in the vicinity, with 1,000 acres of harvest and other land, divided 
among reapers and mowers, steam plows and threshing and winnowing 
machines. 

PHILADELPHIA CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION, 1876. 

The patriotic conception of a second World's Fair for America — the 
seventh in the universal series — to be held in r876, in commemoration 
of the birth-day of American Independence, dated back fully ten years 
prior to that time, and soon found hundreds of thousands of advocates 
in public-spirited citizens in all sections of the country. At first the 







362 



PHILADELPHIA CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION, 1 8/6. 363 

project was discouraged by many leading men in public life, on the 
ground that the monarchical governments of Europe would hardly care 
to join us in celebrating the overthrow of kingly power. At length, 
however, the scheme grew in national favor and, in 187 1, Congress 
passed a bill providing for an international exhibition of arts, manufac- 
tures and products of the soil and mines, in the city of Philadelphia, and 
for the appointment of one commissioner from each state and territory 
to prepare a proper plan and put it in force. Later, in June, 1872, Con- 
gress passed another act, creating a Centennial Board of Finance, 
authorized to issue shares of $10 each, up to a sum not exceeding 
$10,000,000. Philadelphia made a donation of $50,000, afterward in- 
creased by $1,000,000, the state of Pennsylvania appropriated $1,500,000, 
and the government at length added a loan of $1,500,000, subsequently 
cancelling the debt. Popular subscriptions came in slowly, but in June 
1873, the governor of Pennsylvania informed President Grant that pro- 
vision had been made for buildings and, on July 3, following, a procla- 
tion issued for the opening of the exhibition on the 19th of April, 1876. 
The^ Secretary of State at once sent a note of the fact to foreign ministers 
at Washington, expressing the hope of His Excellency, the President, 
that their several governments might be pleased to notice the subject and 
bring it before the people of their several countries — which they did, 
three-fourths of the exhibitors at Philadelphia coming from foreign lands. 
Fairmount Park, three miles west of Philadelphia, comprising 450 lovely 
acres on the line of the Pennsylvania Central and near the Reading rail- 
way, was contributed as a site, and 236 acres were fenced in for buildings 
and general exhibition grounds. The main building covered an area of 
870,464 square feet; machinery hall, 504,720; art building 76,650 square 
feet of floor space and 88.869 of wall space; horticultural hall, 350x160 
feet; agricultural building, [17.760 square feet; women's department 
building, 208x208 feet. The United States appropriated $728,500 for a 
government exhibit. England, after establishing its commission head- 
quarters at Philadelphia a year before opening, sent a collection of 
paintings valued at over $1,000,000, besides vast consignments of articles, 
representative of all her main industries. France, Germany, Russia, 
Spain, Italy — all the monarchies and republics at that time extant, from 
Mexico and Brazil to Siam, Siberia, China and Japan, attested their 
interest and good will by liberal contributions, with the result of 30,864 
•exhibitors. The seven departments were: Mining and Metallurgy, 
Manufactures, Education and Science, Art, Machinery, Agriculture and 
Horticulture. The awards, rendered by a body of judges, half foreigners 



364 



THE WORLDS FAIR. 



and half Americans, numbered 13,104, of which number, 5,364 went to 
American exhibitors. The medals were bronze, four inches in diameter, 
being struck at the U. S. Mint. The chief of the Bureau of Awards was 
Gen. Francis A. Walker. 




AGRICULTURAL HALL, PHILADELPHIA, 1 8/6. 

The three miles of fence line inclosing the exhibition were provided 
with 1 06 entrance gates for visitors, beside 17 grand carriage and wagon 
entrances. The total number of visitors was 9,910,966. The largest 




HORTICULTURAL HALL, PHILADELPHIA, 1 8/6. 

day was September 28, — Pennsylvania Day — when 274,919 visitors were 
admitted. The total gate receipts were $3,813,724.49, the city of Phila- 
delphia being largely re-imbursed for losses by the enormous addition to 



PARIS, 1878. 365 

her monetary circulation. The two most prominent departments of the 
Centennial World's Fair were those of Agriculture and Manufactures, in 
which were represented, collectively, no less than 19,000 exhibitors. In 
Horticulture there were but 40 exhibitors. 

PARIS, 1878. 

The third of the Paris International Exhibitions — eighth in the 
modern series — was opened May i, 1878, on the Champs de Mars, 
and closed on the loth of October. It was entitled an "Exhibition of 
the Works of Art and Industry of all Nations," and was the first given 
in the Old World under the auspices of a republican government. The 
total area of ground covered by buildings was 100 acres, the main build- 
ing — the wonder of the time in sheer magnitude — occupying 54 acres. 
The French exhibits covered one-half of the entire space. Great Britain 
coming next and Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Switzerland 
and the United States following England, in relative importance as par- 
ticipants. The total number of exhibitors was 40,330, the United States 
sending 1,229, and being also well represented in its official commission. 
The total number of admissions was 16,032,725, and the average daily 
attendance for the 194 days was 82,650. The total receipts were 
$2,531,650, the government again sustaining an apparent loss of several 
million dollars, and again finding its balance in a profit of fully #15,000,000 
to the city of Paris. The line of exhibits, classification, etc., was nearly 
a repetition of the Paris fair of 1867. The display of fine arts and ma- 
chinery was upon a very large and comprehensive scale, and the Avenue 
of Nations, a street 2,400 feet in length, was occupied by specimens of 
the domestic architecture of every country in Europe and several in Asia, 
Africa and America. The Palace of the Trocadero, on the north bank 
of the Seine, was an imposing structure, with towers 250 feet in height 
flanked by two grand galleries. For the first time in the history of for- 
eign world's fairs, the United States had a separate building. - Not less 
than two-thirds of the exhibitors from this country received awards. 

Following this Paris World's Fair of 1878, came those of Sydney, 
New South Wales, in 1879, and of Melbourne, Victoria, in 1881. 

PARIS, 1889. 

r 
The subject of a fourth grand International Exhibition — the ninth in 
the world's modern series — was first broached in Paris six years before 
the actual event, the matter being unofficially considered by members of 



366 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

the Corps Legislatif, in June 1883. Public agitation and discussion fol- 
lowed, and in November, 1887, M. Jules Grevy, President of the Republic, 
signed a decree that the Exhibition be opened on May 5, 1889, and 
closed October 30, following. The government, in alliance with a 
guarantee society, undertook the work of organization, the society guar- 
anteeing the state in the sum of $3,600,000. The board of control was 
composed of eight municipal councillors, seventeen senators, deputies 
and state representatives, and eighteen subscribers to the guarantee fund, 
while a consulting committee of three hundred persons appointed by the 
government, under title of the Grand Council, was divided into twenty- 
two sub-committees to watch over the various departments. The Champs 
de Mars was again selected as the main site of the exhibition, though a 
subsidiary space of some seventy acres now became necessary, the total 
area comprising 173 acres. The largest building was Machinery Palace, 
166 feet in height, covering eleven acres and costing $1,500,000. The 
Palace of Arts cost $[,350,000, and the Palace of the French Section 
$1,150,000, an additional $500,000 being expended on the parks and 
gardens. Among these annex spaces was interspersed a marvellous 
series of dwellings representing a street in Algiers, houses of New Cale- 
donia, an Indian dwelling, the Tunisian minaret, Turkish village, English 
dairies, Dutch bakeries, etc. 

The permanent Eiffel Tower was the principal attraction. This 
structure which cost $1,000,000, is 984 feet in height, its base forming a 
gigantic archway over a main avenue leading from the bridge to the cen- 
tral grounds. The tower was built entirely of iron girders and pillars, 
with four great shafts, of four columns each, rising from the four corners 
of the base and merging into the single shaft forming the main spire of 
the tower. This culminated in the great Alpine reception room, sur- 
mounted by a yet higher lantern, or observatory, the platform of which 
is 800 feet above the ground. The total weight was 15,000,000 pounds. 
Four elevators, their united capacity being three hundred passengers, 
carried visitors to the observatory and first platform. 

Organized on so grand a scale, the fourth Paris exhibition became 
the sensation of the civilized world. Seventy thousand visitors went 
over from the United States and three hundred and eighty thousand from 
England, the total attendance being 28,149,353, ^ ^^'^Y average of 
137,289. The number of visitors on the closing day reached 400,000. 
The total attendance was nearly three times that of the American Cen- 
tennial of 1876, and four times that of the London Fair of 1851. 

Eight hundred policemen, under four chiefs, four brigadiers and 



PARIS, 1889. ^67 

fifty-two sub-brigadiers, were required for day duty on the grounds, and 
a proportionate force for the night service; yet but one hundred and 
ninety-eight arrests were made during the entire period of the exhibition, 
including just one American criminal. Who that American was, history 
sayeth not. At all events, he has been made ignobly prominent. 

The number of exhibitors was 55,000, 1,750 being from the United 
States. The awards were of five degrees and in five forms: Grand 
Prize, Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Bronze Medal and Honorable Mention, 
941 awards being made to American exhibitors. 

The expenses of the exhibition were about #8,000,000 and the re- 
ceipts nearly $10,000,000, showing for the first time in Paris direct 
financial returns on the investment. The item of expense chargeable to 
buildings and grounds was a little less than $6,000,000. 

The effect of the great international event on the finances of Paris 
was shown in the increase of bank balances, and of railroad, theatre, 
hotel and store receipts. The best estimates indicate the addition to 
the circulating capital of the city of nearly 1350,000,000. 

The range and variety of exhibits was the widest, largest and most 
thoroughly representative of all the different forms of human industry 
ever gathered. It seemed to completely epitomize the commerce, the 
invention, the organized labor and the art treasures of Christendom. 
To have taken in the entire exhibition would have required a walk of 
fifteen miles, and months of observation were necessary to an apprecia- 
tive review of its attractions and treasures. Details were such as to defy 
even approximate enumeration, and it is safe to say that there was not a 
visitor to Paris, nor even an officer of the company, who saw the show 
in its entirety. There was no great change from the previous plan of 
classification, but every separate department had, in itself, the dignity, 
the completeness and the splendor of a special international exhibition. 
The department of greatest interest to the industrial world was that as- 
signed to the Machinery Palace, while the departments of fine arts, of 
education, of agriculture, of electricity, of minerals and of general in- 
dustry, were all of a degree of prominence that rendered comparison 
difficult. All the shining merchandise of all the capitals of Europe; all 
the mechanical appliances born of American inventive skill; all the pro- 
ducts of the looms, the shops, the factories and the foundries of England, 
Germany, Spain, Portugal and Russia; all the oriental bric-a-brac and 
decorative notions of China and Japan; all the treasures and splendors 
of all the galleries and studios of France and Italy were there in full 
representation of the taste, the ingenuity and the labors of mankind. 



368 ' THE world's fair. 

For purposes of comparison, the American Exposition of 1893 will 
be placed against this superb triumph of French industry, power oi 
organization and artistic genius; and that fact is one of the keenest of 
the incentives which have pushed on our World's Fair to a high standard 
of success — which are proving that the Americans are an artistic people, 
as well as a practical, thriving race. 

Also for purposes of comparison as to what has been done, statis- 
tically speaking, by the previous world's fairs, the following table is 
presented, some of its items having already been given : 



. WHERE HBLD. 


Tear. 


Acres 
Occu- 


No. of 
Exhibitors. 


No. of 
Admissions. 


Days 
Open. 


Averafre 
Attend- 
ance. 


Receipts. 




1851 

1853 
185s 
1862 
1867 

1873 
1876 
1878 
1889 


21 

6 

24^ 

23>^ 

37 
40 
60 
100 
75>^ 


13,937 

4,100 
23,954 
28,653 
50,226 
70,000 
30,864 
40,366 
55,000 


6,039,195 

1,500,000 

5,^62,330 

6,211,103 

10,200,000 

3,492,622 

9,910,966 

16,032,725 

28,149,353 


'44 


41,938 


$1,780,000 
340,000 
644,100 
1,644,260 
2,103,675 
1,750,000 
3,813,724 
2,531,650 
8,300,000 


New York. 


Paris 


200 
171 
117 
186 
150 
194 
183 


25,811 
36,328 
47,470 
39,003 

62,333 
82,650 
137,289 


Londan. 


Paris 




Philadelphia.. 


Paris 

Paris.. 





But although these figures tell a story of their own, there is a 
broader side of the matter which has been only partially presented. It 
is not the receipts at the gates of the Fair, compared to the expenditures 
upon grounds, buildings, exhibits and management, which determine 
the success of the enterprise. The hundreds of thousands of strangers 
who visit the World's Fair City come with money to spend, and spend 
it. All lines of business take a bound. The city presents a bright face 
to the World, makes everyone welcome, and is on its good behavior. 
The Fair not only brings an added circulation of money, but a permanent 
increase of population from those who are seeking new and pleasant 
homes. These are successes outside of the gate receipts. 

The World's Fair also serves to exhibit the comparative standing of 
the nations in special lines — in the arts, manufactures, products of the 
soil, etc, — and illustrates the advantages which would accrue from a 
universal division of labor among the states of the universe, should they 
ever be able to forget their old feuds and compete only in the industrial 
and commercial arenas. 





GRAND ENTRANCE, PARIS, 1 889. 



HISTORY OF OUR WORLD'S FAIR. 




GERM AND YOUNG SHOOTS. 

^HE fact that the nineteenth century — the most progressive as 
well as the most pregnant in stupendous advances in science 
and civilization since the beginning of the Christian era — was< 
rapidly drawing to a close, naturally suggested to the Govern- 
ment of the United States the appropriateness of commemo- 
rating, during its crowning decade, an event of such importance 
in the world's history that in comparison with it the achievements ot( 
military heroes sink into insignificance. The discovery of the Westerni 
Hemisphere has served to transform the world, not only in its outward 
seeming but even in its domestic, social and poHtical life. It seemed 
fitting that the country which had given a new impetus to the propaga- 
tion of faith in a universal brotherhood should invite to its shores the 
nations of the world to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the 
discovery of the land over which it reigns mistress. To celebrate this 
discovery by a man who was at once thinker, enthusiast and martyr, con- 
stitutes a fitting climax to four centuries of human progress, of emanci- 
pation of thought and of acquisitiou of a broader and deeper knowledge. 
It was in reflections such as these that the idea of the World's Columbian 
Exposition found at once its germination and development. 

The conception of celebrating so great an event through an inter- 
national exhibition, where might be afforded a view of the comparative 
progress made by the countries of the earth in art, science and manufac- 
ture, no less than in the cultivation of the soil, was first agitated in 
Chicago. To George Mason, Esq., of that city, belongs the honor of 
originating, as early as November, 1 885, at a meeting of the directory 
of the Inter-State Exposition Company (of which body he was a mem- 
ber), resolutions looking to the inauguration of such a colossal project. 
The expediency and feasibility of the enterprise was subsequently 
discussed at a private meeting of representative citizens selected from the 



374 



THE WOKLD'S FAIR. 



leading clubs of Chicago, and a pronounced sentiment in its favor found 
almost unanimous expression. 

The following year — 1886 — the same idea found lodgment in the 
minds of public-spirited men in. Eastern States. A Board of Promotion 
was organized, with a view to securing Congressional action in this 
direction. Ex-Governor Claflin, of Massachusetts, was made President, 




LYMAN J. GAGE, 

First President World's Fair Directors. 

and he at once took steps to bring about national legislation. On July 
31, of that year. Senator George F. Hoar introduced a resolution for the 
appointment of a joint Congressional committee of fourteen to consider 
the advisability and practicability of such an undertaking. The committee 
was appointed, met and submitted a favorable report, and here the 
matter, for the time being, was allowed to rest. 

The Board of Promotion, however, was not idle. Its preference 
was for an exhibition at the Capital, and it even proceeded so far as to 



J 



ORGANIZATION OF THE FORCES. 



375 



consider and finally adopt plans for the erection of both temporary and 
permanent buildings at Washington. 

The press of the entire country took cognizance of the movement, and 
the interest, if not the enthusiasm, of the people of every section was at 
once aroused. The project met with general favor, and its consummation 
soon came to be regarded as an accepted fact, the accomplishment of 
which was only a matter of time. Public opinion having been emphati- 
cally expressed in favor of the celebration, in the halls of Congress, in 
the press, in public gatherings, on the floors of commercial exchanges 
and on the streets, the possible advantages — financial and otherwise — 
accruing to the city where such an exhibition should be located early 
became a subject of eager discussion. Long before Congress had taken 
definite action in the premises, competition for the site was earnest, 
clamorous and resolute between the cities of Washington, New York, 
St. Louis and Chicago. The claims of Washington were persistently 
urged on the ground that, as the Exposition was to be fathered and fos- 
tered by the national government, the national capital was the only 
appropriate location. Common cause against Washington was made by 
New York, St. Louis and Chicago, the latter city being the first in the 
field. The controversy between the four contestants was not conducted 
without much good-natured raillery, underlying which, it must be con- 
fessed, was a spirit of more or less acrimony. Not an advantage was 
left unclaimed by either of the rivals, not a defect existed that was not 
pointed out by some competitor, and for months the arguments carried 
on in the press furnished entertainment to the entire country. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE FORCES. 

The ultimate triumph of Chicago was due, in no small degree, to 
earlier and more perfect organization. As early as August, 1889, a 
corporation known as the World's Exposition of 1892, with a capital 
stock of $5,000,000, was formed under the laws of Illinois, the expressed 
object of which was to promote the holding of a World's Fair in Chicago 
in 1892. Among the signatures affixed to the application for a license 
were those of men whose lives \Yere identified not only with the munici- 
pal government but also with the city's growth and prosperity. Within 
seven months the entire amount of capital stock had been taken. On 
March 23, 1890, a call was issued for a stockholders' meeting, at which — 
on April 4, following — a Board of Directors was elected. Subsequently, 
at a meeting presided over by his Honor, Mayor Cregier, a committee 
of one hundred leading citizens was appointed to visit Washington and 



376 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



employ all honorable means to secure the location of the proposed ex- 
hibition at Chicago, 

The New York Chamber of Commerce, at the suggestion of Mr. 
Cornelius N. Bliss, took action looking toward the location of the fair at 




HON. THOMAS W. PALMER. 

President World's Fair Commission. 

the great Atlantic entrepot of the commerce of the American continent. 
At a meeting convened under the call of Mayor Grant, a committee of 
one hundred was appointed, and four sub-committees — on permanent 
organization, finance, site and buildings, and legislation — were named. 
The sum of $5,000,000 was guaranteed by individual subscriptions, pro- 
vided, of course, that New York be selected as the location. Ground 



PILLARS OF THE EXPOSITION. 



117 



lying immediately north and west of Central Park was chosen as a site, 
and the draft of an act prepared. 

Action of a character similar to that of Chicago and New York was 
also taken by St. Louis. 

Congress accorded the representatives of the four competing cities 
a hearing before committees, and it was agreed that the choice of a site 
should be left to Congress. The project of holding a World's Fair 
having been accepted, a most vigorous campaign for securing the loca- 
tion was inaugurated and waged by the advocates of the competing 
points. Headquarters were opened, sectional pride and sympathy were 
stimulated, and the fight went merrily on. 

PILLARS OF THE EXPOSITION. 

The result was that, after several ballots, the bill prepared was 
amended by the insertion of the word "Chicago" in the blank left for the 
interpolation of some name in the draft approved by Congress, and the 
date of holding the Fair was postponed until 1893. The measure was 
approved /April 25, 1890. Chicago having now the coveted prize, the 
next step was to effect a local organization, the selection of the members 
of the directory being determined by a vote of the stockholders. The 
vote resulted in the choice of men widely known in the financial centres 
of the world: Lymanr J. Gage, President; Thomas B. Bryan, First Vice- 
President; Potter Palmer, Second Vice-President; Benjamin Butterworth,. 
Jr., Secretary; Anthony F. Seeberger, Treasurer; and William Ackerman,. 
Auditor. 

Mr. Gage is a native of the Empire State and has been a banker 
during the greater portion of his life. As a resident of Chicago since 
boyhood he has been not only identified with some of her largest com- 
mercial and financial enterprises but with her artistic and charitable 
institutions. 

The act of Congress provided for the appointment of a National 
Commission, to be composed of two members from each state and terri- 
ritory and from the District of Columbia and eight commissioners-at- 
large. The commissioners from the respective states and territories 
were to be nominated by the respective governors and approved by the 
President; the eight additional members were to be named by the Chief 
Executive. 

Before the selection of the local directory, President Harrison had 
approved of the gubernatorial nominations and made his own, and the 



37^ 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



first meeting of the National Board was held at Chicago, on June 26, 
1890, and on the day following an organization was effected by the 
election of Hon. Thomas W. Palmer, of Michigan, as President, and of 
Hon. John F. Dickinson, of Texas, as Secretary. 




HON. THOS. B. BRYAN, 

First Vice-President World's Fair Directors. 



Mr. Palmer was born and educated in Michigan, but since his 
younger years he has had the benefit of European travel, a large and 
successful business experience, and service both in state and national 
Senate. He is, in fact, a man of broad education, broad experience, 



PILLARS OF THE EXPOSITION. 



379 



broad culture, suave and persuasive in his manners, and withal energetic 
and determined. 

By common consent of both the National Commission and Illinois 
Corporation, Hon. George R. Davis, of Chicago, was elected Director 
General, or Chief Executive of the World's Fair. Before he was of age. 




GEORGE R. DAVIS, 

Director General. 



Col. Davis enlisted in a Massachusetts regiment. His promotion was 
steady as his bravery was assured. Since coming to Chicago he has 
maintained his military reputation, has served three times in Congress 
and been otherwise honored. The chief responsibility of the conduct of 
the World's Fair rests on him, and the burden rests on strong shoulders. 
It is surely within bounds to say that the great pillars of the World's 
Fair, from first to last, have been Director General Davis; Presidents 
Gage and Palmer; Thomas B. Bryan, First Vice-President of the Local 



380 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

Directory, who proved such a force in the presentation of Chicago's case 
before Congress; E. T. Jeffery, of the Committees on Grounds and 
Buildings and State and National Exhibits, who visited Paris for the pur- 
pose of examining into the workings of her last exposition, and came to 
Washington splendidly equipped as a Chicago champion; and Benjamin 
Butterworth, the diplomatic, able and tireless Secretary of the Local 
Directory. 




WILLIAM T. BAKER, 
Second President of World's Fair Directors. 



At the end of his first term of office, Lyman J. Gage, President 
of the Board of Directors, declined a re-election, to the greatest regret 
of all friends of the Fair. In the search for a fit successor to this 




HARLOW N. IIIGINBOTHAM, 
Third President World's Fair Directors. 



EXHIBITS, SITE, PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION, ETC. 383 

most important post, the unanimous choice fell on W. T, Baker, then 
President of the Chicago Board of Trade. The wisdom of the 
choice was proved in his hearty re-election to the office at the end of 
his year's service. Mr. Baker has long been one of Chicago's most 
prominent citizens, both as a successful business man, and one inter- 
ested in every movement for the advancement and welfare of the City. 
He has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Fair from its first incep- 
tion, and the credit for its success is due to him in no small measure. 

He was born in West Winfield, N. Y., in 1841, and, as a boy of 
fourteen, commenced his business life in Groton, N. Y. Coming to 
Chicago in 1861 he steadily worked his way upward until nov/, while 
hardly yet in middle life, he stands at the head of one of the largest 
commission houses in the country. 

Mr. Baker, at the end of his first term of office, was re-elected to 
a second term. Finding, after about four months, that the immense 
responsibilities and constant worry attending his position were wear- 
ing on his health, he decided to resign, and Harlow N. Higinbotham 
was elected to fill his place. Again the choice fell on worthy shoulders, 
for Mr. Higinbotham, an Illinoisan by birth, as partner and credit 
manager of Marshall Field & Co., has long been ranked among the 
foremost of Chicago's business men and financiers. 

EXHIBITS, SITE, PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION, ETC, 

The preliminary work of classifying the proposed exhibits was early 
entrusted to Prof. G. Brown Goode, of the Smithsonian Institution, and 
a leading member of the Board of Management of the United States 
Government Exhibit. After being revised and amended by the National 
Committee on Classification, the Exposition was finally divided into the 
following great departments, 

A. Agriculture, Food and Food Products, Farming Machinery 
and Apphances. 

B. Viticulture, Horticulture and Floriculture. 
C Live Stock, Domestic and Wild Animals. 

D. Fish, Fisheries, Fish Products and Apparatus of Fishing. 

E. Mines. Mining and Metallurgy. 

F. Machinery. 

G. Transportation Exhibits — Railways, Vessels, Vehicles. 
H. Manufactures. 

y. Electricity and Electrical Appliances. 



384- 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



K, Fine Arts — Pictorial, Plastic and Decorative, 

Z. Liberal Arts — Education, Engineering, Public Works, Archt- 
tect'jre, Musi'^ ^nd the Drama. 

M. Ethnology, Archaeology, Progress of Labor and Invention — 
Isolated and Collective Exhibits. 

A^. Forestry and Forest Products. 

O. Publicity and Promotion, 

P. Foreign Affairs. 




MOSES P. HANDY, 

Head of Bureau of Publicity and Promotion. 

More or less discussion followed as to the choice of a site. One 
was tendered to the National Commission by the Local Directory at the 
first meeting of the former after the completion of its organization, which 
at first seemed to meet with general approval. At subsequent confer- 
ences, objections were urged and this vital point long hung in abeyance. 

The necessity for additional legislation, both state and municipal, 
was soon perceived. The former beingf considered the most vital, the 



THE SITE. ^gc 

Governor of Illinois was asked to convene the legislature in special 
session, with which request he cheerfully and promptly complied. The 
end in view was to enable the city of Chicago to contract a bonded debt 
of $5,000,000, the proceeds to be devoted to the furtherance of the in- 
terest of the Exposition. The legislature adopted the necessary measure, 
and upon ratification of the same by popular vote, the securing of the 
additional funds was assured. 

THE SITE. 

For many, and cogent reasons, it was deemed wise that some site 
in the South Division of Chicago be selected for the location of the Ex- 
position. The Commissioners of the South Park were willing to meet 
the Local Directory half way in the request of the latter that a portion 
of the improved lands under their control be turned over for this purpose. 
For a time there appeared to be imminent danger of a disagreement be- 
tween applicants and ofificials to whose care the property was intrusted. 
All questions at variance were, however, finally settled in a spirit of 
mutual concession and general devotion to a common cause. Jackson 
Park, containing 586 acres, — one of the most beautiful within the city 
limits — with such portion of the contiguous Washington Park as might 
be needed, together with the interlying, cultivated strip of land known as 
the Midway Plaisance (embracing 80 acres of ground,) were surrendered 
for the purposes named. 

At first it was thought that a dual site would be desirable, and it 
was proposed to utilize a portion of Chicago's Lake Front for the erec- 
tion of certain buildings, at least one of which — the Art Palace — was 
/lesigned to be permanent. Grave objections presented themselves to 
this suggestion, however, and after having been earnestly championed 
and for a time approved and acted upon, the idea was finally abandoned. 
The outcome of all the agitation was that upon the first three localities 
named — Jackson and Washington Parks and the Midway Plaisance — 
comprising some 800 acres, were located all the exhibits of the Fair. 

After it was decided to locate the main portions of the Exposition 
at Jackson Park and the Lake Front, the Board of Architects — which 
at first consisted of D. H. Burnham, Chief of Construction; John W. 
Root, Consulting Architect, and F. L. Olmsted &.Co., Consulting Land- 
scape Architects — pushed its work forward as rapidly as possible, 
submitting a general report in November. Afterwards the work of 
preparing plans for the main buildings was placed in the hands of experts 



386 



THE world's fair. 



from New York, Chicago, Boston and other cities, and the plans were 
finally adopted in February, 1891 — subject to modifications. 

On December 24, 1890, through the Department of State, the 
President extended invitations to foreign nations to participate in the 




HON. BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH. 

Secretary of World's Fair Directors, and Solicitor General. 



Exposition. In the proclamation it was also announced that the |io,- 
000,000 and adequate grounds, as required by law, had been provided 
for the World's Fair. France was the first country to formally respond. 
Even by March, 1891, the appropriations which had been made by the 
Government, the Local Directory, the States, Territories, foreign nations, 
corporations, associations and private individuals amounted to $32,- 
000,000. Evidently, the World's Fair had been founded upon a rock. 



MOSTLY IN THE AIR. 




WORLD'S FAIR MAMMOTHS. 

^HE Eiffel Tower was the great and crowning glory of the French 
Exposition. In fact, the Exposition is, in history, associated 
with the tower, rather than the tower with the Exposition. Its 
stupendous height dwarfed the fabled structures of history, and 
since then to out-Eiffel Eiffel has been the ambition of many 
.nations. In inventive genius the American is awarded the palm, and the 
Great Columbian Exposition afforded him every chance for a display of 
that genius. Of the thousands of schemes evolved from the American 
brain to add greatness to the Fair and, incidentally, glory to the inventor, 
the greater majority took the shape of tall buildings, reaching from any- 
where on the ground to any place in the clouds. Space was to be pene- 
trated and the stars made captive to Yankee enterprise and Yankee 
genius. Of the very many such structures the following are selected — 
every one feasible, at least in the minds of its advocates: 



TOWERING ON PAPER. 



"The Chicago Columbus Tower" was to have been 1,500 feet high, 
by 480 feet wide at the base, constructed of steel and iron and supported 
by the contributions of the visitors and sixteen great arched legs. This 
huge daddy long-legs was designed on paper by rapid Chicago gentle- 
men. It would have required over 7,600 tons of steel, 6,000 tons of 
iron, and the small sum of $2,000,000. From the center was to rise a 
dome, 200 feet wide and 200 feet high, which was to be used by concert 
and theatrical troupes. The dome would seat 25,000 people. Eighteen 
elevators, each with a capacity of fifty people, would afford ample em- 
ployment for the same number of obliging elevator boys. Unfortu- 
nately, these elevators were not intended to have gone any higher than 
1,250 feet. But for the sake of affording the heathens from other lands 




THE CHICAGO COLUMBUS TOWER. 

1 ,500 feet high. 



NO LUCK IN THIS SHOE. 



389 



a chance to travel farther in the direction they never were intended to go, 
a small piece of silver will insure a view of heaven 250 feet nearer. On 
the summit of this great tower it was originally intended to put a great 
globe thirty-three feet m diameter, and provided with sixteen powerful 
electric lights, which were to be observable fifty miles distant. As the 
tower has not been built, the idea of putting the globe there has been 
abandoned. 

But genius did not halt here. An electric tower was projected which 
should shoot into the ambient air for 2,750 feet, until its flagstaff might 
almost tickle the chin of the old man in the moon. Its height and dimen- 
sions were as follows: base, 1,000 feet from corner to corner; height to 
first platform, 1,000 feet; to second platform, 1,750 feet; to third plat- 
form, 2,750 feet. An enormous electric light crowned the entire struc- 
ture. 

The projector of the "Columbian Memorial" very wisely stated that 
it could be built to any dimensions, but he desired it as follows: The 
ground plan was in the shape of an eight-pointed star, from the center of 
which was to rise a steel tower, the apex of the flagstaff of which was to 
be at an altitude of 1,492 feet. The pedestals of the tower — sixteen in 
number — were in a circle. Surrounding the tower and resting on its 
pedestals was to rise in impressive grandeur an immense glass and steel 
dome or hemisphere 400 feet high and 400 feet in diameter, thus giving 
unobstructed space for the amphitheater and other purposes. The 
building could have been adapted to innumerable purposes, being equally 
important in all its parts and appointments. The projectors suggested 
that an amphitheater be arranged in the rotunda, with galleries, etc., capa- 
ble of seating 50,000 persons, and the building of an immense chamber 
in one of its wings to seat from 10,000 to 15,000 people, the opportunity 
being unexceptionable to obtain a perfect line of sight and acoustics near- 
ing perfection. The estimated cost of this structure was in the vicinity 
of $2,000,000, but in the opinion of the projectors the revenue to be 
derived from the investment could not have failed to pay large returns to 
a well-organized corporation. The profits possible from such a building 
appalled the directors so much that they were afraid to undertake the 
responsibility of taking care of the heavy receipts. It is not yet built. 

NO LUCK IN THIS SHOE. 

Then, again, there was to have been a "Columbus World's Fair 
Triumphal Arch." It was in the form of a horseshoe, and large enough , 
to allow a horse 3,000 feet high, but without a rider, to pass beneath. 




THE COLUMBIAN TRIUMPHAL AKCII. 
390 



THE UNIVERSE TAKEN IN. 



391 



Elevators would run inside of the arch and land passengers out of sight 
at a height of 3,250 feet, where a large bald-headed eagle would be seen 
taking care of the stars and stripes and, incidentally, of the earth. As 
will be seen by the illustration, it was a great idea, and only failed in its 
accomplishment. 

THE UNIVERSE TAKEN IN. 

Another design equally as interesting was a "Memorial Tower of 
the World's Fair," and is thus described by its enthusiastic projector: 

"In the base of the tower and within the frame- work supporting the 
upper portion of the structure is placed a globe, intended to represent 
the earth, and mapped out as accurately as possible, representing the 
different oceans, seas, continents and islands, with all the rivers, lakes 
and mountains clearly defined and the respective heights of the moun- 
tains illustrated. Every city of the world is clearly shown in its proper 
geographical position upon the earth's surface, with every point of great 
interest. This globe is 400 feet in diameter, and mounted upon a low 
pedestal of suitable dimensions, inside of which are numerous elevators 
and a grand stairway. These elevators are intended to land the passen- 
gers in the interior of the globe, which I propose to call Astronomical 
Hall — an exhibition of the solar system, the sun being represented by an 
enormously powerful group of electric lights, incased within a translucent 
globe, suspended in the center of space. This is to be the only light 
within the globe, so as to produce the same effect upon the planets as 
does the light of the sun. Within the lower portion of the structure and 
surrounding the globe is an electric railway, ascending in a spiral form, 
and having a grade of one foot in fifty. The tracks, which aggregate 
seven miles of railway, with their supporting girders, form so many cir- 
cumferential bands or girts attached to the inner surface of the main sup- 
porting frame-work. This railway lands its passengers upon the grand 
gallery, which forms the approach to the theatre and elevators. The four 
towers contain sixteen electric elevators, having a capacity of elevating 
and returning 15,000 persons a day, landing them upon the third gallery 
or upon the entrance to the four grand hotels." 

The projector said and did other things concerning this great tower 
of which history has kept no record. It will be seen, however, that he 
meant well. 

An enthusiast from Utica, N. Y., proposed to have a globe repre- 
senting the earth, and above that a hotel, and yet above that a tower, the 



392 THE world's FAIR. 

top of the latter being 1893 feet nearer heaven than earth is. So far as 
learned, the projector's idea has not been carried out. 

MODEST ONtS. 

Then there was the telescope tower, made in any sizes from pocket 
up, but mostly to suit the size of the pocket. The gentleman from Con- 
necticut who evolved the great idea in his saner moments described the 
wonderful structure about as follows : The first base would be about 
400x500 feet, by 100 feet high. Rising from this about seventy-four 
feet would be another section, leaving a margin on first base of twenty- 
five feet. From the top of this base would rise another structure 150 
feet more. These sections would form the base of a gigantic monument- 
shaped tower. Now, in the base would be erected a telescopic structure, 
consisting of steel tubes within tubes, placed in circles, joined to each 
other by powerful pumps in such a manner that, at a stated time every 
day during the Exposition, the pumps would be started, and this steel- 
tube structure would slowly rise until, at the end of two or three hours, 
it would tower like a mighty monument 1,000 feet high in mid air. On 
the first section there would be a drive-way; on the second a bicycle- 
way, and on the small end of the telescope a restaurant with galleries 
around. What a beautiful idea he had of being telescoped into eternity! 
The plans have been prepared for some time, and are better prepared 
every day. 

A French artist suggested a plan consisting of two lighthouses, with 
a globe of the world on each and Columbus standing astride, on the old 
and the new continent. The statue was to have been sixty-five feet high 
and the whole structure 200 feet high. The cost was estimated at 
$100,000. Since this idea was evolved it has been proven that the Colossus 
of Rhodes was a Roman fake. The Fair directors did not desire that in 
after years, centuries hence, their memories should be reviled by such an 
insinuation, and so the idea was not carried out. 

A Minneapolis architect, in a moment of inspiration, prepared plans 
for a building to seat 120,000 persons, affording, at the same time, ample 
space for a full mile race track, base ball and cricket grounds and arti- 
ficial lake, with artificial water. The building was designed to be 400 
feet high, and surmounted by a globe 200 feet in diameter. The most 
marvelous feature of the structure was a drive-way for carriages, begin- 
ning at the base and circling around to the foot of the big globe. An 
electric railway was designed in the mind of the architect to wind around 



DROPPING A THOUSAND FEET INTO WATER, 



393 



the same course. The seating capacity would have been six time's as 
great as the Colosseum. Generally and for the benefit of those who are 
fond of well-fed words, the contemplated structure consisted of an amphi- 
theatre one mile in 'measurement on its periphery, and of oval form. 
Within" the ellipse occupied by the seats for the audience it was possible 
to place the entire adult population of the city of Chicago. 

DROPPING A THOUSAND FEET INTO WATER. 



The numerous means pro- 
posed for getting as far away 
from this earth as possible may 
have suggested to a French en- 
thusiast the idea of falling i,ooo 
feet, or as many more or less 
as desirable. He would, if he 
had his way, have dropped a 
projectile-shaped car from a 
tower i,ooo feet in height into a 
basin of water. Not one of those 
in common use every day, but 
one built for the purpose. 

The cigar-shaped car, ac- 
cording to his plan, should be 
built of steel, with a number of 
interior cones to prevent com- 
pression of air in the passenger 
compartment when the craft 
strikes the water. The proper 
height of the projectile was given 
as about forty feet and its weight 
estimated at eleven tons. If 
dropped from a height of i ,000 

feet, the car would be traveling at a speed of 250 feet per second when 
it strikes the water. As this rate is considered more than three limes as 
fast as an express train, the occupants would gain an idea of what rapid 
transit really means. The basin was to be 200 feet deep. Before 
reaching that depth, the resistance of the water would bring the projectile 
to a gradual stop, when it would rise to the surface, ready to be carried 
to the elevator leading to the tower from which the drop was made. 




VIEW OF THE DROP. THE FALLING CAR. 



394 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



The arrest of motion would be so gradual that the fifteen passengers, 
seated on cushion chairs on a floor resting on springs, would not be 
jarred when the craft struck the water. 

For some reason or other — probably both — the idea was not carried 
out. It would have afforded foreigners, however, a good chance to learn 
what is meant by the American expression, "taking a tumble." 



A LOOK UNDERGROUND. 

Coming nearer to the reali- 
ties of life, it was proposed to 
show the visitor to the. Fair the 
great mines of the world. To 
do this, it was necessary to take 
them into the bowels of the 
earth, and here, again, the great 
American genius came to the 
front with the following idea: 

Above ground there was to 
have been a unique structure, the 
entrance to a shaft, in which 
people, by means of elevators, 
would descend to a depth of 500 
feet. Here, on emerging from 
the car, they would find them- 
selves in a spacious circular- 
shaped underground room, con- 
taining seats for repose and 
space for various exhibits of 
mining wealth. Here the differ- 
ent processes of mining, wash- 
ing and smelting would be daily performed by skilled workmen. Had 
this scheme been carried out, it would have afforded an opportunity to 
learn what it is to live underground, away from the broils of society, and 
study the monotonous life and toil of the dusky miner. Samples of ore 
from the great lodes of the Pacific coast, of s?ilt, of coal, of copper, and 
all minerals, would have been reproduced in position, as removed from 
some of the rocks of the underground world. Europeans would then 
have learned what was meant by American mining stocks. Of course, 
the interior of this mine would have been strongly perfumed and 







^^^PPj 


^^^M 



INTERIOR OF THE FALLING CAR. 



SOME DOMES OF THOUGHT. 



395 



lighted, A good many would have infinitely preferred going down 500 
feet, instead of going up 1,500 feet, as it would have been less strange. 

SOME DOMES OF THOUGHT. 

Many of the genii allowed their thoughts to wander to buildings, 
whose vastness spread more on the earth than into space. For instance, 
there was the great Columbus Dome, the leading feature of which was 
a great hemisphere, having a radius of 400 feet — that is, a diameter of 




THE COLUMBUS DOME — EXTERIOR VIEW. 



800 feet. This dome was designed to rise from a flat, pedestal-like 
building, which was in the form of a cross, 1,892 feet long and 1,492 feet 
deep. On the top of the dome was to be a temple of Liberty, and on 
this structure a colossal figure of Columbus, pointing to his discovery, 
which is represented by a great map on the face of the dome. The style 
of architecture of the exterior of the building was the Italian renaissance, 
while that of the interior of the dome would have been Moorish. The 
Temple of Liberty at the top of the dome was to have been over 600 feet 
above the ground, and about 100 feet in diameter. The material was 
designed to be iron and steel, and the cost about $3,000,000. 



396 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



Still another design was by a fellow-countryman of Columbus, and 
was a globe resting on a pedestal or base. The pedestal was of graceful 
proportions, 300 feet high. The monument was a globe whose diameter 
was to have been equal to the height of the Eiffel Tower. Surmounting 
the whole was to be a full-rigged ship. The total height of the monu- 
ment may be put down at about 1,400 feet. At the equator a gallery 
was to run round this globe, which was to have been about two-thirds of 
a mile in circumference, while on the surface was marked the continents 
and oceans, just as on a school globe. From the equator to the north 




THE COLUMBUS DOME — INTERIOR VIEW. 



pole, winding around the outside, there was an inclined railway nearly 
four miles long. A large statue of Columbus stood in the center of the 
base under the globe. A Columbus museum and library devoted to 
literature in connection with his discoveries and those of other explorers 
was to have been established, and restaurants were to be placed here and 
there at more or less elevated positions. An observatory was also to be 
built at the summit of the monument. The cost of construction was es- 
tim.ated at about 15,800,000. 

This design was hardly sufficiently expensive to meet the ideas of 
the World's Fair Directors, and so it was not considered. 



SOME DOMES OF THOUGHT. 



397 



An individual with a ponderous brain had the temerity to propose a 
tower to be at least 1,500 leet high. He was also under treatment for 
his ailment, but found time in saner moments to put his plans on paper, 
where they have remained ever since. He would have an aluminum 




PALACIO S COLUMBIAN GLOBE. 

i,4CX3 feet high. 

cylinder, similar in shape to that which, in its halcyon days, sustained the 
Mount Carmel Airship, but of enormous size, and capable of containing 
an unmentionable number of cubic feet of gas. To this he earnestly 
desired to attach a large car or circular room, the whole thing to be 
anchored to the ground at a height of 1,500 feet. Should the cable 
snap — why, then all the passengers had to do was to leave the car to 



398 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

take care of itself, and get out. This scheme has never been success- 
fully tried, however. 

One more reference to a dome planned for the great Exposition. 
An Eastern editor evolved a plan for a dome, resting upon a perfectly 
solid foundation, but a little above the level of the city streets — an 
exact circle on the ground plan, and an exact half circle in elevation, arch 
and roof. The plan contemplated a dome 400 feet in diameter and 200 
in height, this surmounted by a tower of 175 feet, and this, again, by a 
globe twenty-five feet in diameter. The height of all would have been 
400 feet. This would have given a mammoth hall 400 feet in diameter, 
and capable of seating 25,000 people. These poor people will now have 
to stand the remainder of their lives, as the dome has really not been 
built. 

UNDER ONE ROOF. 

A scheme that attracted great attention for awhile was the Jenison 
tent plan. It was the idea of a local architect that he would like to be 
awarded the contract for roofing the greater portion of Chicago. He 
had an idea, and has it still, that it would have been the crowning glory 
of the Fair, had his suggestions been carried out. A center-pole he 
would erect, 1,492 feet high, and cover, with canvas, sheet-iron, or glory, 
a space large enough to cover the entire business portion of Chicago 
north of Twelfth street, and to the river. This huge tent would have 
contained thirty times as much space as the Colosseum of Rome. The 
wires supporting the great roof would be 1,785 feet in length, and the 
wall of the circular tent would be 500 feet high. Around this wall it 
was the design of the architect to build balconies for special exhibits, 
those of the States and foreign countries being arranged from the center- 
pole out. It was a great idea, and would have cost the city of Chicago 
the small sum of $6,000,000. But as the tent was not erected, the money 
it would have cost has not bankrupted any one. 

GREAT HEAVENS! 

A ponderous idea was evolved by a religious enthusiast out of his 
own head. It was a World's Fair Temple of Religion, and would have 
cost the modest sum of $30,000,000. But it does not cost anything to 
tell about it; 

The plans of the Temple included an immense circle, 875 feet in 
height and 1,750 feet in diameter, a circle of circles around this, each 
875 feet in diameter, and still another circle of circles around this, each 



WHAT LAZY PEOPLE MISSED. 



401 



438 feet in diameter. In each of these circles the projector would have 
pictured the paradise of all nations and all times; that of the Christians 
to be given "the seat of honor" in the great central circle or dome. In 
another circle, one of the second size probably, would be placed the 
Mohammedan paradise, filled with lovely houris. In still another would 
be the Polynesians' heaven; in still another the Ethiopians', and so on 
to the end of the long roll of heavens that the differing desires of men 
have manufactured from time immemorial, and are continuing still to 
manufacture. In these various temples it was proposed, if they had been 
built, that services should be held daily during the Fair, in accordance 
with the rites of every religion under the sun; the projector estimating 
that the worshipers gathered from all quarters of the globe would amount 
to at least a million. 

WHAT LAZY PEOPLE MISSED. 

So far so good, as to the buildings. But there were schemes innu- 
merable suggested, to mention a tithe of which would be impossible. 
.The means and methods of transportation seemed to worry inventors to 
an unwarranted degree. How would it have pleased the visitor to the 
Exposition to have found for his accommodation a gently-moving plat- 
form, making a circuit of the buildings and grounds, while he sat reading 
his guide-book or eating a sandwich? And yet that was the luxury pro- 
posed. 

Almost level with the regular foot-way was to have been laid a 
wooden path, carried on a kind of underground railway, at a rate of 
speed so slow that every one could step on or off without an effort. 
There was no interstice between the stationary path and the moving one, 
no place where anything could catch, not even a crack for a child's toe. 
It was to be simply a lapping of one plank over another. At intervals 
of a yard or more were uprights which furnished a hand-hold to any one 
walking alongside who wished to step on, or any one riding to step off. 
The taking it must not be confounded with mounting a horse car while it 
is moving, for there the step is raised and the speed far greater — two 
material factors in mounting a moving vehicle. This was to be more 
like the change from walking on one plank to standing still on another. 
The moving platforms were really three in number; a slow one on each 
side, and a faster one in the middle. The whole roadway was necessa- 
rily continuous, circular, oval or elliptical; no halting or reverse of the 
motion being possible. The center platform was to be provided with a 



TRANSIT FOR THE RUSHERS. 4O3 

row of seats, covered with a pavilion or canopy. It is difficult to imagine 
a more delightful and exhilarating trip than the circuit of the great ex- 
hibits in this ease and comfort. The motion would be more like sleigh- 
riding than carriage or car travel. But this glorious device never was 
adopted, and the beautiful picture of laziness hugging herself still remains 
nothing but a picture. 

TRANSIT FOR THE RUSHERS. 

No one has as yet traveled 200 miles per hour, but there is no tell- 
ing how fast they would have got along had the Hydraulic Railway been 
adopted. The method employed is the use of slides instead of wheels, 
and the use of water as the bearing surface on which the car rests. The 
propulsion is likewise accomplished by water. The train consists of a 
number of open cars. Underneath the cars is a continuous line of pal- 
lets or buckets, like the chambers of a turbine wheel. By a system of 
automatically opened and closed nozzles a stream of water is directed 
against these pallets and drives the train forward. The essential part of 
the invention, however, is the slide which replaces the wheel of the ordi- 
nary train. This slide is a metal box with a depression in the center, 
forming a step which supports the suspension rod, which in turn supports 
the car. Water is introduced into the box from above. The included 
air, being compressed, forces the water out through a series of compli- 
cated and interrupted channels in the base, which rests on a perfectly 
smooth, flat rail, which is further embraced by deep flanges on either side 
of the box. The water forced out forms a very thin cushion between 
the rail and the base of the box, and on this continuous cushion of water 
the train slips along with a minimum of friction. This cushion or film of 
water is not over 1-40 of an inch in thickness. 

It was thought that the Airship would have been completed in time 
to bring passengers from New Orleans and New York in the morning, 
returning them to their several homes on the same day, but fate has 
ordained otherwise. There is no recounting the innumerable sugges- 
tions made to the World's Fair Board of Directors — from the man who 
wanted to reproduce Adam and Eve, to the modern inventor who desired 
a garden of flowers made, of glass, the petals forming miniature incan- 
descent lights. From these few descriptions, however, the visitor to the 
Fair can form a good idea of what might have been. 

These words are scarcely run off the pencil when the writer is rung 
up by telephone, and a friend at World's Fair headquarters, who keeps 



404 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



him posted, shouts through it that he has another scheme to tell about. 
Another Chicago genius proposes not to out-Eiffel Eiffel, but to 
out- Pisa Pisa. The leaning tower in Italy would be straight as a deacon 
compared to this one. The inventor says it will be 225 feet high, 70 
feet square, and boldly lean 100 feet from the perpendicular. "The entire 
structure is of metal" (we quote his words), "principally steel, weighing 
about 500 tons above the foundation, and of novel cantilever construc- 
tion that affords all requirements of stability. It will be built to safely 
sustain a load of 160,000 pounds on the top story. The frame- work is 
of steel-truss construction, forming a huge cantilever of enormous 
strength and rigidity, which combines for support a substructure of metal. 
The depth of substructure is 48 feet; area, 165 by 115 feet. The con- 
struction of the foundation is chiefly 
of plate-riveted iron girder work, im- 
bedded in concrete, which forms a 
solid bed about eighteen feet deep. 

"The walls of the tower are com- 
paratively light, being simply a framing 
of small-sized angle iron attached to 
the truss-work and having a facing of 
embossed sheet metal. The exterior 
will be painted a dark terra-cotta color. 
"Electric-hoist elevators and easy 
stairways conveniently lead from the 

THE CANTILEVER, OR LEANING TOWER. . • a i 

entrances to the upper stories. Above 
the first story there are five floors. They are inclined and consist of a 
series of broad steps extending across the tower. Numerous windows 
light the interior, balconies provide interesting outlooks for visitors, and 
at the top of the tower an extensive view of the surroundings and a mid- 
air realization may be had. A spacious buffet, serving light refresh- 
ments, will be in the top story, and about midway will be the tower 
curiosity-shop. The visitor can also reach the foundation and view the 
construction. 

"It will take eight months to build this structure — cost $500,000.'' 
These figures are refreshingly modest — but the telephone rings 
again, to say that four more men are in Director Davis* waiting-room, 
with schemes in their pockets ranging from one mile underground to a 
mile above, and from 1500,000 to #5,000,000; also that Mr. Davis has 
been again seized with the grip — or seized his grip (the words are 
muffled) — and started for the South. 





THE COLUMBIAN TOWER. 
40s 



406 THE world's FAIRo 

THE COLUMBIAN TOWER. 

The erection of this giant tower, which was the only practical- 
scheme in the way of a tower that was suggested, engaged the serious 
consideration of the Fair officials for many months. A private com- 
pany stood ready to put the scheme through like a flash, if a satis- 
factory grant could have been secured for its erection on the grounds. 
It is the one thing about the Fair which it is regretted was not car- 
ried out. This wonderful structure was planned to cover 400 feet 
square at the base. The first landing was at a height of 200 feet, and, 
with all its rooms, promenades and balconies, possessed an area suffi- 
cient to accommodate fully 50,000 people, without the slighest crowd- 
ing. Here were to be places devoted to refreshments of various kinds, 
photograph galleries, billiard halls, etc. 

Another ascent of 200 feet places us on the second landing 400 
feet toward heaven, and here are repeated the designs of the first 
landing, though on a somewhat smaller scale. This modest resting 
place had a capacity for but 25,000 people. 

The next step up would be 520 feet, landing you at a height of 
920 feet above all your poor relations walking on the earth below. 
No danger of mistaking your destination, for if the plan had carried, 
instead of the golden pavements awaiting you, would have been the 
fiend of peanuts, popcorn, cigars, soda, ice-cream, etc. Still one 
more ascent, only 80 feet this time, up a winding staircase, and you 
would gaze down from a dizzy height of an even 1,000 feet. 

This marvel of ingenuity and mechanical skill would require 
8,000 tons of steel, galvanized iron and wire in its. construction, or 
enough to make 800 carloads. Its ten elevators would accommodate 
80,000 people daily, and the cost of construction would be only about 
$3,000,000. 

When Congress visited Chicago in February, 1892, to inspect 
the progress of the Fair, they came so near to having their breath 
, taken completely away by the undreamed of magnitude of the scale 
on which the enterprise was being worked out, it is safe to say the 
addition of a half dozen or so of the many schemes proposed to 
attract and startle, would have added nothing to the effect. 

Imagination hath not devised a scheme that could create greater 
wonderment and awe than must be inspired by what the Fair offers 
without the aid of this chapter. 



OUR WORLD'S FAIR CITY. 



A GRAND LAKE FRONTAGE. 



,T was a broad avenue, alive and brilliant with every style of turn- 
out, and manhood, and womanhood. From the modest, low, 
basket carriage, drawn by the frisky little Shetland, to the 
gorgeous tandem and the massive English cart; from the laugh- 
ing women and children, out for fun, to the aristocrats, out for 
parade; from the dainty, giggling miss, tripping along the broad stone 
walk of the grand Lake Front, musical with fountains and decked every- 
where with statues and gems of landscape architecture, to the dozing 
lounger stretched upon his bench and getting his fill of elysian air, un- 
clouded and untainted by city smoke; from first to last — from the 
muffled rumble of the cars, running beneath the covered way over which 
thousands of pleasure-seekers were strolling along the shores of the 
lake, to the silent but almost consciously beautiful palaces lying across 
the avenue and facing this expanse of animation, of marble, of green 
and blue loveliness — everything pointed to the fact that here was the 
approach to some magnificent municipal body. Opposite the park was 
an almost solid array of palatial structures — the elegant grounds bright 
with gay groups of visitors — and vast granite and brick blocks. 

In fact, the World's Fair City had been thrown open to the world. 
The Exposition was open, and a party of distinguished foreign guests 
were being chaperoned about Chicago — were being introduced to it — and 
had taken as their starting point this splendid public green by this splen- 
did lake. 

In the first carriage was an enthusiastic, observant, talkative French- 
man, who observed that one would know that they were approaching the 
magnificence of a great city. The fact, to him, was in the very air, pure 
as her smoke consumers had made it. His English companion — a 
middle-aged gendeman, who looked "beefed and aled" into loyal pas- 
siveness — twirled his thumbs skeptically, but said nothing. A cool- 
browed but warm-blooded and bright-eyed journalist, the conductor of 
the party, who for several years had passed the age of manhood, gazed 



4o8 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



mildly into the distance and bided his time. A well-bred, military Rus- 
sian officer completed the quartette in this carriage, while behind them 
rolled along, in another conveyance, a studious, investigating, spectacled 
German, with an Austrian count, an Italian official of some kind, and a 
Spanish Republican. "What are these grand buildings along here?" 
asked the Russian officer, pointing to the left. "This vast granite and 
limestone pile of ten stories is as impressive as anything in St. Peters- 
burg; it would be more so if it had more space around it." 




THE AUDITORIUM. 



"This is the Michigan avenue, or hotel side of the Auditorium 
building, which is to be thrown open to some of the great congresses of 
the World's Fair. The theatre and opera entrances are on Wabash 
avenue and the side street — Congress. Look at that acre and a half of 
massiveness, rising from its gigantic granite foundations and colossal 
pillars, the stones and supports getting smaller as the upper stories are 
reached ; finally that great building called a tower — eight stories, or ninety- 
five feet piled on the 145; and a smaller tower, thirty feet higher — placed 
upon the 240. There's a perch for the Signal Service — 270 feet \\p^" 



A GRAND LAKE FRONT, 



409 



"It looks as solid as Gibraltar outside," remarked the Englishman, 
allowing his eyes to wander over its massive perspective. 

"And inside you will really find artistic effects," insisted the French- 
man, "worthy of Paris. That hotel, with its marble walls and pillars, 
great banquet hall, elegant saloons and dining rooms, and the audito- 
rium hall, in the opposite part of the structure — for size it is unrivalled. 
With the stage, which is a large hall in itself, it seats 8,000 people. 
Marble pillars, marble walls everywhere, curtained and mirrored dress- 
ing rooms for visitors — really for convenience, acoustic properties and 
elegance — but I should be disloyal to Paris to say more, " concluded our 
Frenchman, laughing brightly. 

Beside the Auditorium, hardly diminished by its shadow, was a 
granite palace of darker shade, through whose enormous windows noble 
steeds were seen, attached to every variety of wheeled vehicle. A 
grand arched driveway pierced it. Merely the salesrooms of a large 
carriage manufacturer, this ! The steeds were stuffed. 

"Aha! So they have an Art Institute," remarked the French- 
man, referring to his guide-book and pointing to a dark, rich-colored 
sandstone building to the left of the avenue. "They should have it even 
nearer the lake. And the building is hardly worthy, although it has a 
generous, welcoming look." 

"But what have they inside?" asked the English visitor. "Rather 
a city of money-getters, you know. Trade and merchandise, I believe, 
amounts to something like a billion and a half They pack $140,000,000 
worth of meat — hogs, about $60,000,000. Biggest lumber market, big- 
gest meat market, biggest produce market, biggest railroad center, big- 
gest increase of bank deposits in the country. But what have they in- 
side their art institutes?" and the Englishman looked around, question- 

" There is quite a nucleus within, and you see that magnificent 
architectural pile, nearly opposite on the Lake Front — in time that will 
be filled with real treasures. Truly an art palace," said the Frenchman. 

"We're moving," said the native newspaper man , "Since we've lifted 
such cities as this out of the prairie muds, we haven't had much time to 
make a business of getting artistic and cultured. We're beginning to 
get time now. Our bankers, our board of trade men, our pork packers, 
and their sons and daughters, are supporting and developing our art 
institutes and our scientific societies. Why, the President of our World's 
Fair Directory and one of its leading directors were at the very founda- 
tion of this Institute. They and other wealthy gentlemen and ladies not 



4IO 



THE WORLD'S FAIR, 



only worked for it, but loaned their valuable paintings and works of art 
to it. We are money-getters, but not quite money-hardened." 

"I understand, also," said the Russian officer, "that no city in 
America responded so enthusiastically to the paintings of our Vere- 
schagin and the Angelus as Chicago." 

On they rolled past more hotels of marble, granite and brick, and 
still more, and finally a noble nine-story structure of fine brick, with 
ornamental towers, gigantic granite foundations, and huge polished pil- 
lars which would have withstood any Samson. As the carriage passed 
a grand entrance our foreign friends were undecided as to whether it 
was a city, a state, or a national building, or an evidence that there were 
princes in the land after all. They were more in doubt when the car- 
riages drew up to the grand entrance, on the side street, with its paved 
inner court, the walls ornamented with rich tilings, and two massive stone 
staircases leading to the floor above. When they learned that this was 
the property of the man who built the dining, parlor and sleeping cars 
in which they had luxuriated from the sea-coast; that it contained, be- 
sides his offices, those of a great military department of the United 
States, a large restaurant, and scores of living rooms— scores of homes; 
and that the said Mr. Pullman owned a city toward the south, besides 
this palace, an elegant home and his car works, they were not credulous, 
but slightly disturbed, because both the American journalist and the 
Americanized German who imparted the information did so with such an 
air as to. convey the impression that they had Pullmans in store — galore. 

CHICAGO'S HISTORIC GROUND. 

Down the avenue the carriages glided, past large business houses 
and the imposing Public Library (in what used to be known as Dearborn 
Park) on the west, while toward the lake still lay the variegated stretch 
of sward, flower wonders, sprays and marble gems. Then they swept 
into a district of wholesale houses — groceries, spice, tea and coffee 
houses, boot and shoe and dried fruit establishments, chemical works and 
what not. They finally diverged toward a huge steam bridge which 
spanned the river and were about to cross it, when the drivers were 
ordered to draw up to the side of the street. Pointing across the river 
at a huge pile of factories and warehouses, the newspaper guide pro- 
ceeded to explain that over on the other bank, not ninety years ago, 
there came a Michigan fur trader and bought a log hut which had form- 
erly been occupied by a mulatto adventurer. The successor to the 



CHICAGOS HISTORIC GROUND. 



411 



mulatto was a Frenchman, and he sold out his business to John Kinzie, the 
fur trader, the Indian agent, the silversmith, who made trinkets for the 
Indians — " 

"How many years ago, my boy?" asked the Englishman. 

"1804 — he's right. Indians were here in 1804 — until 1835," said 
the Frenchman, who was studying his guide-book. 

"Kinzie enlarged the hut into the first family residence in Chicago," 
continued their guide, "and brought up a lot of children there. Across 
the way, right there" (pointing across the street to a five-story brick 
building, which presented a narrow front at the sharp angles where two 
streets came together) "right there, opposite John Kinzie's house, which 
stood on the other bank of the river, where that factory backs up nearly 

North Side consisted ■'^^^^^"^"'^^^^^^^^'^^ B of the Kinzie house 
and two or three first residence m Chicago. ^^^^^ ^^^^ held by 

French traders, their Indian wives and half-breed children. This Fort 
Dearborn, the officers and their families, the Indian agents and traders, 
John Kinzie, wife, and the little Kinzies who were born across the river 
there, were about all of Chicago, until she was platted as a canal 
town, in 1830." 

The Frenchman had been silent for some time, but at length said: 
"From all I can learn we Frenchmen have always done the rough work 
here in Middle America. Still you call us dainty. When your English 
and your American traders came to Chicago you found that we French- 
men had been here ahead of you. Your first known Chicagoan, your 
mulatto from Hayti, was more a Frenchman than anything else, and fled 
to the swamps and woods of this region because he could not live at 
Fort Chartres, the French capital of the Illinois country, after it fell into 
the hands of Englishmen." 

"But what is the meaning of the inscription under the old block- 
house — the bas-relief on the stone tablet which is set into the front of 



412 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



this building?" As both carriages drew nearer the tablet at the same 
time, it is evident that the question was put nearly simultaneously by 
some member of each party. 




The inscription was to this effect: "This building occupies the site 
of old Fort Dearborn, which extended a litde across Michigan avenue 
and somewhat into the river as it now is. The fort was built in 1803-4, 
forming our outmost defense. By order of General Hull, it was evacu- 



CHICAGO'S HISTORIC GROUND. 413 

ated August 15, 18 12, after its stores and provisions had been distributed 
among the Indians. Very soon after, the Indians attacked and massa- 
cred about fifty of the troops and a number of citizens, including women 
and children, and the next day burned the fort. In 18 16 it was rebuilt, 
but after the Black Hawk war it went into gradual disuse, and in May, 
1837, it was abandoned by the army, but was occupied by various gov- 
ernment officers till 1857, when it was torn down, excepting a single 
building, which stood upon the site until the great fire of October 9, 1871." 

The visitors were much interested in the story of the massacre, es- 
pecially as by stepping around to the head of the avenue they could get 
a view of so much of the route taken that August morning — that march 
of death along the sand hills by the lake shore, and the final massacre by 
the skulking savages at a point near Eighteenth street, south of the Lake 
Front Park. In the distribution of the stores, the blankets, calicoes and 
paints were passed over to the Indians, but the muskets, bags of shot 
and flints, were thrown into the river and the garrison well. This under- 
handed proceeding, the Indians afterwards admitted, was the cause of 
the massacre. 

"After the massacre," broke in the Frenchman again, "Chicago was 
deserted by all save my people. Did not a Frenchman hold John Kin- 
zie's cabin for him? If I am not misinformed, a few French traders — 
half-breed Indians, they were — one of them a great friend of Mr. Kin- 
zie's, kept Chicago until peace was again declared with England, and the 
government rebuilt your fort in t8i6. Then, in short order, came your 
Kinzies again to share the early dayg with the French Beaubiens. But 
Mr. Beaubien — he got to be colonel of your county militia afterwards — 
had been upon the abandoned site of Chicago before him and raised a 
crop of corn from the farm of old Fort Dearborn. Afterwards a good 
many Frenchmen became residents — organized your first church — but I 
mustn't go into that. The Beaubiens — the brothers and the younger 
generation — did as much as the Kinzies toward the building of the sec- 
ond Chicago. But I can't quite forgive your treatment of my country- 
man, the Colonel. He bought the military reservation, covering your 
lake front and the land where your Public Library stands, for $94. You 
Chicago people said he should have it, and so did your State courts, but 
the highest court in the land said 'no.' So the poor Colonel, like most 
pioneer Frenchmen in Middle America, was crowded out of his home. 
The Government paid him back his $94 and sold the reservation to the 
city, provided your lake front and Dearborn Park were always to be us^d 
for public purposes." 



414 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



WHY WOLF POINT WAS NOT OUR CENTER. 



"You spoke of the town being platted in 1829-30, did you not?" 
The ItaHan spoke. The German guide assented. "Well, I knew you 




were young, but not ^■(j young. " The Spaniard smiled sympadietically. 
The Italian admitted, further, that he could now understand why they had 
met no ruins along Michigan avenue. " But you have ruins somewhere ? " 



WABASH AVENUE. ^je 

"Not now, but we have had them, and after riding through the 
business parts of the city I shall tell about them," soberly replied our 
German friend; "ana they were no such mellow ruins as we have on the 
Danube and the Rhine. I want to say, too, that when the canal com- 
missioners surveyed the section which is now embraced by State and 
Madison, Desplaines and Kinzie streets, the most active center of 
Chicago was not where it is now. The Military Reservation wasn't in- 
cluded — Wabash and Michigan avenues and the cross streets — but that 
isn't what I mean. You ought first to get the Chicago river well in your 
mind. Although in those days the river took a half circle around Fort 
Dearborn and emptied into the lake far south of where it now does, still 
its main course, then as now, was east. Two branches form this east- 
ward trunk, one flowing from the north and the other from the south. 
Where the branches meet the main river, on the western banks, was and 
is a point — Wolf's Point it had been called for years before the commis- 
sioners decided to make a canal town of Chicago. There, so said the 
sharpest, was to be the settlement. For a year before the town was 
surveyed one of Kinzie's sons had been keeping tavern at Wolf's Point; 
also a store. Nearly opposite, on the north branch, Kinzie's son-in-law 
kept a rival hotel. Within hailing distance, on the south side of the 
main river, was a famous tavern run by Mark Beaubien, the younger 
brother of John. The postofifice was in the old Kinzie house. North 
Side, Father Kinzie having died at the fort two ydars previous, where 
his married daughter lived. There was the fort, and the Indian agent's 
house, and Col. Beaubien's trading hut just outside the reservation, on 
the South Side. But later we got to be the county seat, and a lock-up, 
and a little court house was built on the square, and the river was 
straightened and its mouth cleared of sand, and the harbor improved by 
the government, and vessels came in, and steamers, and there was a rush 
to get lots on the river, and houses and stores and offices sprung up on 
its banks and near them — and Wolf Point became a suburb. It's now 
covered with elevators and warehouses and railroad tracks, and opposite 
on either side of the main river are great coal yards and warehouses, 
and wholesale stores." 

WABASH AVENUE. 

At a nod from the guides the drivers now turned their horses up 
River street until they came to Wabash avenue. A dash up the avenue 
showed how closely successful business houses crowded each other on 
both sides of the way — the most luxurious groceries, the finest millinery. 



SSip^npra^ats 



■-t^-~- ,Mi.^»wi ' j a MM 




MASONH: TEMPLE. 

416 



STATE STREET AND THE MASONIC TEMPLE. 



419 



glassware and china establishments, straw goods, willow ware and carpet 
houses, furniture dealers, pianos, stationery and book stores, etc., etc., 
were there — just where they were most required. 

After visiting the Libby Prison, which was brought from the South 
to this city of the North, brick by brick, the gentlemen were driven 
west to State street. 

STATE STREET AND THE MASONIC TEMPLE. 

Then they glided rapidly past a solid mile of retail stores of all 
grades, with popular theatres planted, wonderful to relate, right in the 
midst of people and not too near together! On this street, also, whicli, 
below Madison, was formerly the eastern bounds of Chicago, were found 
gigantic department stores, covering acres and acres of area, supplying 
everything needed by man, woman and child, under any conceivable con- 
dition. The half a block of iron and Maine granite, on the corner of 
Van Buren, which represents 11,250,000 of Mr. L. Z. Leiter's money, 
and the "Fair" leviathan of steel and terra cotta, covering as much 
ground, twice as much height and more than twice as many dollars, are 
not to be passed without recognition. Neither is Marshall Field's great 
establishment, located in the lower portion of the thoroughfare, within 
convenient distance of the substantial citizens and the masses of the 
North, South and West divisions. 

"But, my dear sir, that is a giant standing down there to the right!" 
exclaimed the Russian, half rising from his seat in his admiration, as the 
superb proportions of the Masonic Temple came into clearer view. 

The grand structure, twenty stories in height, rising 275 feet in its 
architectural strength and beauty, its fronts of granite, brick and terra 
cotta being all of equal finish, needed no words to enforce the truth that 
master minds had conceived and master hands executed. The visitors 
alighted from their carriages and spent fully an hour wandering around 
the balconies of the court within, and examining the beautiful goods dis- 
played in the entire streets of shop windows which occupied nine or ten 
stories of the temple. Above these were hundreds of offices, and the 
three upper floors were given up to the halls and parlors of the Masonic 
fraternity, all furnished and decorated in princely style. 

REAL ESTATE AND POLITICS. 

"Here's where we make our homes," remarked the newspaper man, 
smiling at his companions and waving his hand up Dearborn street, into 



420 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



which the carriages swept. "There are more and sharper real estate 
men, I venture to say, in the district bounded by Dearborn, Randolph, 
La Salle and Adams streets than within any equal area in the world. 
That's why Chicago is getting to have more 
homes than any other American city — that, and 
because her clerks, her workmen and her busi- 
ness men know how to earn money, how to 
save it, and how to invest it. 

"The real estate men and the lawyers are put- 
i4^ ting up some of the biggest office buildings in 




PONTIAC BUILDING. 



the world here in Chicago; the capitalists them- 
selves say that they do it. Look at the Pontiac, 
for instance : Fourteen stories, brown pressed 
brick and steel, cost $350,000; and the Monad- 
nock, a great, square, chocolate-colored fortress 
of the same material, devoid of beauty, but 
mounting sixteen stories and costing $t,ooo,- 
000. Both on this street; corners, Harrison 
and Jackson, respectively. Think of it! But we have something more 
interesting in another direction. 

"Up Washington, driver. Stop on the corner of Clark. There! 
Here we are on historic ground again. This is the birth-place of Chicago 
politics. On that square, in the early thirties, were a log jail and a long, 
one-story brick court house, with broad steps and Corinthian pillars in 
front. Not so large as 
this present court house, 
but still a kind of a 
sawed-off mass of base- 
ment, pillars and cor- 
nices. The court room 
was above, the county 
offices below — " 

"But why mention 
the jail in connection 
with the birth-place of 
Chicago politics?" in- 
terrupted the English- 
man, raising his eye-brows. The delineator smiled, as if it had been an 
oversight, and continued, nodding to the Lake-street corner and his 
French companion: "There was a plain, three-story brick structure, 




FIRST CITY HALL. 



REAL ESTATE AND POLITICS. 



421 



thought grand in those days, called the Saloon Building, in which our 
first City Council met — 1837." 

"Oh, yes; I see. Saloon Building — birth-place of Chicago poli- 
tics. I see;" and our English guest unbent and slapped his knees. 

"But you mistake him, my friend," replied the French gentleman^ 
somewhat severely. "I have read of this Saloon Building, and find that 
the word was not applied in the vulgar democratic sense. In it were, not 
sold whisky and beer. The word is the French salon — a hall — even a 
palatial hall. The public room in the upper part of this building was 
thought one of the finest in the western country. Below were reputable 
business establishments. We shall not allow our friend here to have his 
joke on that. Chicago politics are bad enough, but they were not of 
necessity conceived in iniquity." 

"Good," admitted the Englishman, and the laugh went round. 

"Now, if we could bring you to 
the spot, near Lake street and the 
river, where Mark Beaubien's favorite 
'Sauganash Hotel' stood, and in which 
he fiddled, and beamed, and dispensed 
various inspiration — then you would 
know where bloomed the first Chicago 
politicians." 

Across the way from the Wash- 
ington and La Salle corner of the 
Court House Square, the visitors were 
introduced to the lofty structure of 
terra cotta, stone and iron, thirteen 
stories in height, known as the Cham- 
ber of Commerce. 

"Here, then, you sell and buy 
those great quantities of grain, some 

of which you only have in your minds," said the English traveler, 
move that we look into the chamber." 

It was then explained that this was the home of the Board of Trade, 
from a year after the Fire until the completion of the new building at the 
head of La Salle street, twelve or thirteen years afterward. The build- 
ing was not what it is at present, however. In 1890. the old structure 
was used as a basis for the expenditure of $2,000,000, its height was 
doubled, the interior completely revolutionized — in fact, the old Board of 




CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 



"I 



422 



THE world's fair. 



Trade building was swallowed by the new Chamber of Commerce and 
disappeared entirely. Banks and offices now monopolize it." 

"Then we'll drive on and see your actual Board of Trade building," 
they all declared. 

In the same block, however, with the Chamber of Commerce build- 
ing, corner of La Salle and Madison streets, was the Tacoma. Superb 
stores occupied the first floor. Twelve stories of fine brick and terra 
cotta above were composed of hundreds of elegant offices, the highest 
being ornamented with an array of light pillars and elaborate cornices. 
The Tacoma has a grand entrance both on La Salle and Madison streets, 
and is one of Chicago's architectural tri- 
umphs. 

As far as could be seen, north, south, 
east and west, were solid ramparts of stone 
and brick structures, towering loo, 150, 200 
feet and over. The streets were seething 
with people, their voices muffled by the pon- 
derous din of traffic. 

A WOMAN'S TEMPLE. 

The graceful and massive Board of 
Trade was but few a blocks beyond, its tower, 
which rose 300 feet above the din, being sur- 
mounted by a noble vessel of the lakes — 
symbol of what first brought prosperity to 
the banks of the Chicago river, and a guide 
to mariners far out on the lake. It seemed 
to block the street completely. But as the visitors drew near Monroe 
street, their attention was riveted upon a temple whose purposes they 
could not fathom. For two stories the walls were of rugged granite, the 
main entrance being a magnificent combination of marble pillars and ala- 
baster walls ; above the two stories of granite, marble and alabaster were 
seven stories, built of buff brick and terracotta; and from the tenth floor 
the building line retreated, and an immense roof of brown tile com- 
menced, breaking, as it ascended, into Gothic turrets. From the center 
of these sprung a bronze tower, seventy feet high, or 285 feet above the 
observers. The beautiful tower of bronze was surmounted by the speak- 
ing form of a woman, her face upturned and her hands outstretched to 
heaven. 




THE TACOMA. 





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424 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



"This is the Woman's Temperance Temple," said the guide, in an- 
swer to general inquiries, expressed by both words and looks. 

"Built by women?" asked the Russian and Spaniard in wonder, 
"and to keep men from drinking?" 

Without discussing the temperance question from an American 
standpoint, it was explained that this great edifice was a monument to the 
energy, ability, heart and soul of woman, and that it had been dedicated, 
in November, 1890, to the destruction of intemperance, whether it had 
laid hold of man or woman. The dedicatory ceremonies were partici- 
pated in by thousands of children, by prominent clergymen and public 
men, and by the greatest generals of the temperance crusade in the 
world. 

"And can American women carry on, unaided, such an enterprise?" 
persisted the gentleman from the North. 

"Our Spanish beauties, I must admit," said the gentleman from the 
South, "would consider it almost a miracle for the men." 

"This is merely an iota in the temperance work accomplished by 
women. From this building go out tons of pamphlets, newspapers and 
books to the very ends of the world, and missionaries, too — weak 
women," laughed the newspaper man. "This temple is worth looking 
into." 

The gentlemen from both carriages alighted, and, passing through 
the grand entrance, were introduced to some of the gracious ladies 
found in charge of the national, state and city headquarters, on the 
first floor. They were then conducted to Willard Hall — lined with mar- 
ble and covered with various inscriptions. They were told that the hall 
had been named after Miss Frances E. Willard, one of the most able and 
practical reformers whom the country had produced, and, for many 
years, the acknowledged head of this movement. The marble walls were 
inscribed with the names of individuals and societies who had contributed 
toward the erection of the temple. There were also beautiful memorial 
windows, and busts and statues in honor of the heroes and heroines of 
temperance. Eleven floors of the temple were given over to offices, the 
rentals from which, it was explained, had already gone far toward paying 
for this splendid monument— raised at a cost of $1,100,000. The 
ground upon which it stands had been leased for two hundred years, at 
a rental of $40,000 a year. In fact, it had become quite general to lease 
ground for a century, or two centuries, which was an evidence of the 
faith possessed by Chicago in her own permanency. 



THE ROOKERY AND HALL OF BABEL. 



425 



THE ROOKERY AND HALL OF BABEL. 



The visitors left this Woman's Temple with some reluctance, and a 
block beyond it were directed to a superb structure of granite and brick, 
a dozen stories in height, which they were told went by the very strange 
title of "The Rookery." It is but politeness to explain why it is called 
Rookery. Within a week after the Great Fire, workmen commenced 
upon a new city hall, its location being upon a tract of land on the 
southeast corner of Adams and La Salle streets. Nearly in the center of 
this 190-foot square, owned by the city, was a great iron tank (with a 
good brick substructure) which had once served as a reservoir for the 
South Side water works. Around this structure, as a nucleus, a rough, 
shambling, two-story brick building was erected. When finished, by 
New Year's day of 1872, the uncouth reservoir protruded considerably 
above the highest roof of the City Hall, although, in places, an extra half 
story had been added to the two floors. The old tank had really cause 
to feel dignified, for it now served as a vault for the keeping of valuable 
documents. But although the city and some of the county officials 
of a great municipality transacted their business in this structure, the 
birds came also and built their nests in its 
many corners and crannies. The safety 
tank was an especially favorite haunt— so 
the newspaper boys say — of the rooks. 
At all events, the dingy, country-looking 
concern which the City of Chicago occu- 
pied for thirteen years got "Old Rookery" 
fastened upon it, so that the name is still 
applied to this rich, grand affair on the old 
site. 

As the carriages drove away from the 
Rookery to continue up La Salle street to 
the Board of Trade building, it would 
have been an oversight not to have re- 
marked that the next block to the east was occupied by the Government 
building, and that the impressive ten-story structure near the southwest- 
ern corner of Adams and La Salle streets was for some time the head- 
quarters of the Exposition officials. This was the Rand-McNaliy block — 
occupied by the largest map and atlas house in the world. 

But the Board of Trade temple was finally reached. Granite and 
iron, it was; cost, $1,500,000. Through the grand entrance, on Jackson 




THE ROOKERY. 





ASHLAND BLOCK. 



UNITY BLOCK. 



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SOME CHICAGO SKYSCRAPERS. 




THE TEMPLE. 
ErectL'd by Woman's Christian Temperance Union. 



LIMITS OF THE GREAT FIRE. 



43 T 



Street, on either side of which were massive pillars of gray granite, the 
visitors passed up the stairways of variegated granite to the great 
hall above, with its sample tables for grain, flour, etc., its pits for both 
grain and provision dealers, and the bewildering shouts and antics of the 
operators. The clicking of telegraphic instruments, the lightning-like re- 
cording of the markets by the bulletin clerks, and the darting of messenger 
boys but added to the wonder generally expressed by our visitors that 
in the midst of such a whirl could be transacted the commerce which had 
made Chicago famous. 

Coming from the temple of trade, with their heads buzzing, the 
guide thought it but an act of kindness to take them through the great 
wholesale district of clothing, boots and shoes and kindred goods, which 
lay west of them to the south branch of the river. This seemed a good 
point to call attention to the fact that south of the Board of Trade, on 
Van Buren street, and on the western side of the river — in fact, just on 
the outskirts of Chicago's greatest furnishing district — were the depots 
of those railroads over which the manufactures of the East were sent. It 
was a singular coincidence. Perhaps mercantile foresight, and a determi- 
nation to obtain possession of the goods to be sold as quickly as possi- 
ble, might have something to do with this admirable state of affairs. 

LIMITS OF THE GREAT FIRE. 

Finally, driving on Van Buren street toward the river, the party 
stopped at the intersection of one of the broadest of these thoroughfares. 
It was evident that there was an indecision as to whether they should 
cross the bridge to the great democratic west side of the river, or choose 
some other section for their investigations. 

It did not look very inviting, the strangers thought — crowded with 
square brick factories, warehouses and stores, and now and then a little 
patch or stretch of dilapidated frame houses which looked, even from a 
distance, as if they were fighting for their lives. 

"It is not very inviting," the Chicago man admitted. "But we will 
drive over that way (pointing toward the southwest) about three-quarters 
of a mile, make one stop of about three-quarters of a minute, return to 
this spot, and then follow the South Branch and the main river to Rush 
street bridge, which will take us over onto the North Side." 

The carriages, therefore, crossed to the West Division, and within a 
few minutes reached a conglomerate neighborhood of factories, stores 
and dirty frame houses. At length they drew up in front of two resi- 



432 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

dences of quite substantial and respectable appearance — one of brick, 
the other of stone. The house of stone, a large two-story and basement, 
was their objective point. 

Another opportunity was given to study an inscription upon a tablet. 
It was a marble slab, four feet by two, which was built into the front 
wall just above the basement line. The inscription read: 

THE GREAT FIRE OF 1 87 1 

ORIGINATED HKRE, AND EXTENDED TO LINCOLN PARK. 

CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 1881. 

There was no one in that party who had not heard of the Great Fire 
of 1 87 1, but their ideas of it were confused, as a whole. 

"Now, here is a good point from which to start orr a grand excur- 
sion," proposed the Russian. "We've had some great fires in Moscow. 
Our EngHsh friend here has had his London fire, too. Now, let us see 
if we can get a clear idea of this Chicago fire of only some twenty-two 
years ago. You Chicagoans seem to reckon so many things from the 
Fire!" 

"We have been driving thus far over a portion of the burnt district," 
said the newspaper fiend, smiling modestly. 

"What," exclaimed the Italian, "all your finest business district 
razed to the ground within the life-time of a young man, and these pal- 
aces and temples built! And you say only 2i portion!''' 

"From this point, where stood the historic O'Leary house, with a 
barn in the rear — " 

"Mrs. O'Leary milking, and the cow kicked over the lamp," inter- 
rupted the Lnglishman, laconically. 

"No; that story was exploded a week after the fire. Mrs. O'Leary, 
her husband and neighbors all swear, was in bed — that no milking was 
done that night — everybody who ought to know clears both Mrs. O'Leary 
and the cow; but there is no use trying to crush that yarn," said the 
Chicago man in disgust. 

"Well, the Great Fire broke out, when the whole city was tinder, at 
the rear of this lot, about 9 o'clock Sunday evening, when the honest 
O'Learys were in bed. It swept northeast, between Jefferson street and 
the river, and soon crossed it completely, never to return. Van Buren, 
Polk and Adams street bridges and the vessels lying by the docks were 
just what were needed for the flames to spring over by. The grand leap 
was made about midnight, and in a minute a whole square of frame and 
brick buildings was licked up, the assaulting force was sending great 



LIMITS OF THE GREAT FIRE, 433 

balls and shafts of fire in every direction, and a dozen fires were raging 
at once. The general direction, however, was northeast. From the 
moment the gas works, on Adams street, were fired the conflagration took 
a bound like a whipped steed. The Grand Pacific Hotel — not yet com- 
pleted — the Post Office, the Court House, the Chamber of Commerce, 
the solid, 'fire-proof buildings on La Salle street, Field & Leiter's, the 
Palmer House, whole blocks and streets of structures, any one of which 
a city might be proud of — all swept away in such a whirlwind of fire that 
no one could tell at the time the extent of the ruin. Within twenty-four 
hours all the district between Harrison street, Dearborn and the river 
had been laid in ruins. Of the newspapers, the Tribune, on Dearborn 
street, was not touched. But hardly had its editors and those east of 
the street begun to breathe a little easier before a hurricane, which came 
from no one knew where, caught up a storm of live coals and hurled 
them against the wooden buildings on Dearborn street, and the South 
Side was again in a sea of flames. On they swept northeast to the lake, 
and then returned and traveled back on State street and Wabash avenue. 
Gunpowder, however, carried the day along Harrison and Congress 
streets, for by the blowing up of several buildings the enemy was checked 
here." 

"But think of it! Where the fire crossed the river — that is, about 
the center of the mass — was almost directly west of where we com- 
menced our ride on the Lake Front. All the ground we covered was 
swept, only two buildings which could not be called ruins remaining; 
1,600 stores, 28 hotels, 60 manufactories — 450 acres of ruins. Very 
well. We'll creep along the river, as the fire rushed." 

Thereupon the party was driven along South Water street, between 
solid embankments of oranges, bananas, chickens, meats, potatoes, 
vegetables, butter, eggs, express wagons, lake captains, sailors, tug men, 
etc., etc., for this is the great produce market of the city, and one of the 
greatest in the world. They soon arrived again at Rush street bridge, 
and after driving "up town" for dinner, decided to "do" the North Side, 
the Parks, the Boulevards and the Stock Yards in the afternoon and the 
next day. 

The gentleman from Rome inferred that there they might find ruins, 
but was told that, for the same reason as the former one, no, sir. 

"And have we not covered your burnt district yet?" asked the 
Russian. "I see why you date so many things from the fire, and write 
it with a large F." 

"By the way, here is a picture I've kept of the first building erected 



434 THE WORLD S FATR. 

in this district after the fire— 89 Washington Street; location on the 
north side of the street, between Dearborn and Clark, " and the news- 
paper man took a picture from his pocket-book, which we present to our 
readers on this page. 

The drive, partly along the residence avenues and partly along the 
lake shore, when the carriages passed over to the North Side, was both 
charming and refreshing. As they swept along it was explained that at 
this point, at the time of the fire, the city extended westward for a mile; 
first, the more elegant residences and churches, then a crowded district 
of retail stores, plam houses and churches — nearly all foreigners; next, 
manufactories, railroad tracks, etc. All this was razed to the northern 
limits of Lincoln Park — four miles and a half in a straight line from 
O'Leary's shanty. But the North Side fire did not appear to be a direct 
continuation of the South Side conflagration. After the latter had been 

raging for nearly three hours, a fire broke 

out in some livery stables east of State 
street (North Side), being communicated 
from some combustible substance stored 
in railroad cars near by. This fire made 
a comparatively narrow swath, however — 
east of State street to the lake — but it 
made it to the Water Works in about 
an hour and took them also. In the 
meantime, up from the south and the 

; HOUSE ERECTED AFTER THE FIRE. ' ^ 

southwest rolled wave after wave of the 
first conflagration. Blazing timbers, balls and tongues of flame, were 
driven across the river, and Clark, La Salle and all the other streets 
were swept, bridges burned and thousands of people literally driven to 
the shores of the lake, while some were roasted alive. 

As the strangers were driven along, the different localities were 
pointed out. An attempt was also made to describe the feelings of the 
city, when, about midnight of Monday, after the South Side had been 
razed and 1,500 acres of the North (nearly all of it), the raging monster 
commenced to lap up the coal and lumber yards near Chicago avenue so 
ravenously that fears were expressed that he would recross the river, 
sweep south and destroy the West Division, the only valuable district 
remaining. But -Chicago was not to be entirely wiped out, although one- 
third of the total value of property within the city, twenty-six hours 
before the fire, was swept away, viz: $186,000,000; 100,000 people were 
made homeless and over three square miles of the city were in ruins. 




THE PARKS AND BOULEVARDS. 



435 



THE PARKS AND BOULEVARDS. 

As an entrance was made into the artificial and natural beauties of 
Lincoln Park — there is a great, splendid green at its lower end — someone 
was heard to remark that Chicago had laid out to be a v/orld's metropo- 
lis, by providing for good lungs, or breathing places. It was the French- 
man, who had been doing some figuring in his guide-book, and an- 
nounced, moreover, that Chicago had already 2,000 acres of parks, to 
say nothing of her miles of boulevards which swung around the city. 




SCENE IN LINCOLN PARK. 



He was greatly pleased with this, the oldest of the parks, with its artificial 
lakes, drives, restaurants, rustic retreats^ conservatories, zoological ex- 
hibits, statues, and, most of all, with "what we shall always miss, even 
in Paris, when we see this — your Lake Front." 

After driving through the park for about three-quarters of a mile, 
nearly all the distance in sight of the lake, the tourists turned toward the 
west and left its bright waters and fresh breezes with regret. They were 
three miles from the river, or that distance from the point where the fire 
commenced to sweep the North Side. Where they turned away the 
monster had been stopped in his mad career by thick groves of trees 
which had been saturated by floods of welcome rain, and thousands of 
people who had encamped in the park, with their children and scant 



436 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



household goods around them, received, in what seemed a blessed bap- 
tism from heaven, merely their sentences of death. 

The visitors left, with regret and wonder, the beauties and associa- 
tions of Lincoln Park, being especially impressed with Lincoln monu- 
ment and the Grant equestrian statue, as well as the group of Indians 
in bronze which so faithfully depicted the approach of civilized intruders — 
doubtless white interlopers. As the drive took them westward and away 
from the fire district, their thoughts gradually drifted from that awful 
event to the fresh attractions of their boulevard spin. For three miles 
they sped over a macadamized road, as smooth as a floor, bringing up at 




'\^^^^ 



a little park, known as Logan 
Square Lincoln, Grant and Lo- 
gan — a trio of noble dead whom 
the proudest of Europeans might 
be proud to know ! 
Turning south, the course was along a broader band of boulevards 
for a mile and a half to Humboldt Park — another 200 acres of groves, 
lawns, meadows and lakes, or lungs for the tired and hot men, women 
and children of Northwestern Chicago. Douglas (180 acres) is over two 
miles south of Humboldt Park. Each is four miles from the City Hall, 
or the central districts of Chicago — the latter southwest and the former 
northwest. 

Between the two, and more to the west, is Garfield Park. It is on 
the line of Madison street, the great business thoroughfare of the West 
Side, and its 185 acres of lakelets, islands, pavilions, grass plats, play 
grounds, rustic seats and lovers' retreats are as well patronized as any 



THE PARKS AND BOULEVARDS. 437 

area given up to similar purposes in the city. Fortunately, our visitors 
drove through the grounds during the progress of one of those popular 
afternoon concerts, which add so much to the pleasures and restful influ- 
ences of an outing. 

The suggestion to finally bring up at the South Park system, or 
World's Fair parks, was hailed with delight. When told of the beautiful 
drives, the elegant stores and residences, and the imposing churches of the 
West Side, they were inclined, however, to see that city within the city. 

"I suppose," ventured a timid voice, which was ascertained to be the 
newspaper man's, "that if you travel over the West Side, east of here 
for four miles, you would want to see the balance of it for two miles west 
and two miles south; and you surely would not miss two or three of our 
prettiest little towns, seven or eight miles northwest of here, which the 
city took in three years ago, and which you could not now separate with 
a case-knife. All this is outside of the boulevard system which we have 
been traversing. And, of course, in order to be civil, when you have 
done that, you will feel obliged to visit these charming residence districts 
and homes of the dead, which lay north of Lincoln Park for five miles 
and from the lake, inland, half that distance. " 

"Excuse me; but I thought your boulevard system formed your city 
limits," said the Englishman. 

"Bless you, no, my dear sir!" exclaimed the newspaper man, 
warming to his subject, and dropping his little by-play. "There are 
bigger districts south of here than those I mentioned, which are all north 
and west of the parks and boulevards. After we have taken our drive 
four miles south and four miles east to Washington Park, instead of 
going on to Jackson and the lake again, I might take you for twelve 
miles in a southeasterly direction, through what were, three years ago, 
thickly settled suburbs and great manufacturing towns, but which since 
then have been made a part of Chicago. Why, for nearly four miles 
below Washington Park, this city is more than eight miles in breadth — 
in one place it is ten. For twenty-three miles this World's Fair city 
stretches itself along this lake of ours, and averages seven miles inland. 
I think, my dear sirs, that if you do not wish to spend the night on the 
road we had better drive along toward the World's Fair grounds, after 
we have visited the Live Stock Yards, and then take a four-mile hum 
along the boulevards to what you call the city. Perhaps it would be 
well to take luncheon at the Stock Yards, and — " 

"What!" exclaimed our French guest, forgetful for the moment of 
his good breeding. 








CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE. 



THE PARKS AND BOULEVARDS. 



441 



"There is a fine hotel there," replied the newspaper man; "but wait 
and see." 

South of Douglas Park the carriages turned off from the boulevard, 
and after crossing a labyrinth of railroad tracks, upon some of which cars 
were still standing, loaded with hogs, cattle, horses and sheep, they ap- 
proached a city of pens, alleys, streets, stables, huge packing and slaugh- 
ter houses and other large buildings. One of the latter, fully 250x50 feet, 
was pointed out as the Exchange Hall, and contained bank, post-office, tele- 
graph and business offices. Near by was a commodious hotel and a h'ttle 
newspaper office, and to the latter (after lunching) the visitors went for 
information as to the Stock Yards and the business transacted. It was 
discovered that the yards proper had about 150 acres under cover and 
about 250 acres of open pens; also that 15,000,000 animals were 
handled in a year — nearly two-thirds hogs. Cattle had come in quanti- 
ties. During one day 25,000 had arrived and been handled without con- 
fusion. Well, of course, $250,000,000 was considerable money to re- 
ceive in the shape of live animals; but, you know, Chicago is not sur- 
prised at anything she does herself. 

Soon afterward the visitors were being whisked toward the boule- 
vard again and their destination — the South Parks. 

"Well, well; that Stock Yards is a great place," said the English- 
man, rubbing his hands. As he spoke of the beeves he saw, his hands 
approached suspiciously near his stomach. "But when you see our 
English exhibit at the Fair, you'll see blood — blooded stock, sir!" 

" I am glad to hear you make that admission voluntarily. You 
begin to appreciate Chicago already. Permit me to give you a few^ 
figures, and they will help you to a fuller appreciation, and save you- 
from being surprised constantly. They tell the story, you know, that 
when Buffalo Bill was calling on the Four Hundred in New York, a 
lady asked him if there were many buffaloes around Chicago. When- 
he was in London, one of the queens of society there asked him if 
there were many Indians around New York. I want you all to be 
able, when you go back, to tell others who are coming, what they will 
find in this ' Windy City ' of the ' Wild and Woolly West.' 

" Chicago is the second city on this continent and the seventh in 
the world. Its population in 1890 was 1,208,689, and is now estimated 
to be about 1,500,000. It contains 174 square miles. It is twenty- 
five feet above the level of Lake Michigan, and 592 feet above the 
mean sea level. It is within 850 miles of Baltimore, the nearest point 
on the Atlantic, and within 2,417 miles of San Francisco, on the 



442 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



Pacific. It is the most cosmopolitan city on earth. In proof of this 
here are the fiorures of nationahties from the official census: 



Americans 292,463 

Germans 384,958 

Irish 215,534 

Bohemians 54i209 

Polish 52,756 

Swedish 45. §77 

Norwegians 44i6i5 

English 33.785 

French 12,963 

Scotch 11,927 

Welsh 2,966 

Russians .■ 9.977 

Danes 9,891 



Italians 9,921 

Hollanders 4>9I2 

Hungarians 4,827 

Swiss 2,735 

Roumanians 4>350 

Canadians 6,989 

Belgians 682 



Greeks 

Spanish 

East Indians 

West Indians 

Sandwich Islanders 



698 
297 
28 
37 
31 



Mongolians 1,217 



" Its parks and boulevards cover 3,290 acres; of the boulevard 
system there are seventy-four miles ; it has 2,300 miles of streets ; 
sixty-one bridges, nearly all operated by steam, span the river and its 
two branches ; it requires 37,000 lamps to light its streets, and these 
do not include the wilderness of electric street-lights which are in the 
down-town district, and which are being extended all over the city ; it 
has forty-one miles of river frontage ; twenty- one miles of lake front- 
age ; it has 1,200 miles of electric wire. 

" Chicago handles more mail matter than any other American city, 
not excepting even New York, employing about 2,000 persons. 

"The city's annual expenditures approximate $20,000,000. The 
police force numbers about 3,000 men. In the fire department are 
employed nearly 1,000 men, sixty-five steam-engines, twenty-one 
chemical-engines, eighty-one hose-carts, twenty-one hook and ladder 
trucks, one water-tower, three fire-boats, 390 horses, ninety stations 
and a repair-shop. 

" Twenty-four first-class theaters help to contribute to its amuse- 
ment, and some of them are the finest in the United States ; in church 
architecture it has no rival ; there are 465 of these places of worship ; 
its hotels are placed at 1,400, and these do not include any that are not 
fully equipped in accordance with modern ideas ; there are 600 res- 
taurants ; there are thirty-five trunk lines of railway ; there are six 
union depots, and four of these are unequaled in every appointment ; 
it has 396 miles of street railway, four lines of cable railway and two 
elevated roads. There are published here 531 newspapers, and in 
this number are included twelve dailies; it has 219 school-houses. 
In 1889 there were built 7,590 buildings, a frontage on streets of 
thirty-four miles, at a cost of $31,516,000. In 1890 there were erected 




CHICAGO'S DREAM OF THE FAIR. 



THE PARKS AND BOULEVARDS. 445 

11,640 building-s, covering a street frontage of fifty-one miles, and at a 
cost of $48,000,000. In 1 89 1 there were built more than fifty-one 
miles solid front, at a cost of $55,360,000, an increase of 17 per cent. 

" These are the merest outlines of what constitutes the finest-built 
city in the world. It is the opinion of the best-traveled persons, who 
have been around the world, that a month is barely sufficient to see 
Chicago as it should be seen to be appreciated, and to keep abreast 
of its progress and its wonders requires a lifetime. This is not a 
boast, but a conclusion that can be called conservative, and one in 
which you will concur before your visit is over." 

"To change the subject," said the French gentleman, " would it 
be asking too much of anyone who attended the dedicatory ceremo- 
nies of the Fair to tell me something about them. I was absent at 
the time on a business trip to Algeria, and saw only a short dispatch 
stating that they were grand and rather historical in their character.' 

" Yes, they were grand," responded the journalistic guide, " The 
committee having the matter in charge arranged an elaborate pro- 
gramme extending over several days. The first day witnessed the most 
imposing and varied pageant in all history. The procession was 
indicative of peace, contentment and prosperity, composed of federal 
troops, bodies of the national state guard from several states, followed 
by innumerable bodies from the various local and national industrial 
and social organizations, some afoot, some in carriages and some 
horseback, with their gay-colored emblems of every conceivable shape, 
size and design. This great parade was reviewed by the President, 
his Cabinet, Congress and the many guests of honor. Business for 
the time being was almost wholly suspended. The buildings of the 
city had been generously and beautifully decorated, under the super- 
vision of a citizens' committee, aided by leading artists, so that 
uniformity was secured, and a most imposing effect produced. 

THE DEDICATION PROGRAMME. 

"The second day, the dedication day, was ushered in with a 
national salute at sunrise. The President, his Cabinet, members of 
the Supreme Court, members of both branches of Congress, dis- 
tinguished foreign guests, governors of the diff'erent states and terri- 
tories with their staff, officers of the World's Fair Commission and 
Directory of the World's Columbian Exposition and Board of Lady 



446 THE world's fair. 

Managers were escorted by a guard of honor, composed of the troops 
from all branches of the service which had participated in the pro- 
cession of the previous day, to the Manufactures and Liberal Arts 
Building at the Fair grounds, in which the dedicatory exercises were 
held. At one o'clock, the programme, as prepared, was begun. First, 
a Grand March, specially written by John K. Payne. Second, Prayer. 
Third, Dedicatory Ode. Fourth, Presentation of the Master Artists 
of the Exposition and their completed work, by the Construction 
Chief. Fifth, Report of the Director General to the World's Columbian 
Commission. Sixth, Presentation of the buildings, for dedication, by 
the President of the World's Columbian Exposition to the President 
of the World's Columbian Commission. Seventh, Chorus, ' The 
Heavens are Telling.' Eighth, Presentation of the buildings for 
dedication by the President of the World's Columbian Commission to 
the President of the United States. Ninth, Beethoven March and 
Chorus, 'The Ruins of Athens.' Tenth, Dedication of the buildings 
by the President of the United States. Then followed several dedi- 
catory and Columbian orations, interspersed with music, and all 
ended with a grand national salute. Just imagine, if you can, what 
that music was like, when I tell you that an able leader had been 
upwards of eighteen months preparing for that one event, in training 
several thousand children, and drilling them to render the selections. 
That multitude of sweet voices gave forth such a volume of melody, 
that it found its way to the massive arches of the great building, 
which seemed to vibrate and give back the sound with the resonance 
of a monster harp. 

" For months previously the Director of Works had been crowd- 
ing an army of 10,000 workmen to their fullest capacity to have the 
buildings all in readiness. No small part of the extra work entailed 
by the dedicatory services was the preparation of the great Manufact- 
ures' Building to accommodate the crowd. In the center of the 
great building, which, under the main arch, measures 380 by 1,280 
feet, were two great platforms, one at each end of the building, and 
the two joined by a platform about one thousand feet long. The 
honorary guests were received at the north entrance of the building, 
mounted the first platform, and passed down to the other at the south 
end, where the distinguished visitors all sat. This platform had seats 
for 3,800 people, and the other room for over 4,000 musicians. There 
were over 90,000 seats on the main floor, and provision made for the 



SOME OF THE FIREWORKS. 447 

accommodation of 125,000 persons inside the building. Of course it 
was impossible for all to get inside, and to hear what was said. Many 
who could not get into the main building still had other opportunities 
to listen to dedicatory speech-making, for during the three days some 
of the state buildings held special exercises, and gave opportunity to 
utilize the oratory of favorite sons, and of other distinguished per- 
sonages, who otherwise, in such an assemblage of talented speakers, 
might not have been heard at all. 

"On the third day there was a special dedication of the 
Woman's Building by the officers and members of the National Board 
of Lady Managers and their invited guests from this and foreign 
countries. A number of brilliant social entertainments were given 
by the citizens of Chicago during the three evenings of the Dedica- 
tion celebration, concluding with a grand Dedicatory Ball on the final 
night of the celebration, and after three days of festivities, conducted 
in the most impressive and brilliant manner ever known, the World's 
Columbian Exposition was dedicated, and Columbus was vindicated. 

" Yes, truly," the guide continued, addressing himself particularly 
to the Frenchman, ''you were not misinformed when you heard that 
the ceremonies were grand. Upwards of $300,000 were expended in 
perfecting and carrying out the programme. 

" Each evening following the exercises of the day was rendered a 
special grand electric and pyrotechnic display, excelling anything of 
the kind ever before attempted. The fireworks alone during the 
three evenings represented an expenditure of upwards of $30,000. 
Some of the most striking features of the pyrotechnic exercises were 
the following: 

SOME OF THE FIREWORKS. 

"An opening salute of 100 aerial maroons. 

"Several flights of 100 shells each. The highest ever before fired 
at one time was twenty-five. 

"A prismatic fountain, rising to a height of seventy-five feet and 
changing form ten times. 

"The ascent of forty-three six-pound asteroid rockets, each detach- 
ing forty-three floating stars, with alternating red, white and blue col- 
ors, and representing the States of the Union. 



44^ THE world's fair. 

"The largest fire wheel ever produced, centered with United 
States eagle and shield, and forty-three wheels representing the 
States, changing again and again, and finishing with an immense fire- 
wheel 150 feet in circumference. 

" The simultaneous flight of 5,000 rockets. 

"An aquatic novelty on the Grand Canal, tnrowing columns of 
water 200 feet high, illuminated by bursting bombs. 

"The discharge of 100 fifteen-inch bombs, fired by electricity. 

" Sixty-six sextuple rockets. Each rocket reaching its altitude, 
discharging six other rockets. 

"A battery of sixty-inch shells or bombs, the largest ever fired, 
each weighing 100 pounds and containing 1,500 stars. 

"There were fireworks in every direction, because the throng of 
visitors was so great that the display had to be scattered, in order 
that all might see some part. It is simply out of man's power to 
convey in words to you a description of those crowds and those 
services that will give you an adequate conception of the magnitude 
of the former and the grandeur of the latter." 

Once at the gates of the Exposition, however, it being late, the 
guests determined to drive down town, and begin their travels at the 
Fair early the next day, deciding, also, to approach it from the most 
picturesque point of view — the Lake Front. 

At this point of the narrative our friends scatter, but the reader 
will be taken the rounds nevertheless. 




PEN PICTURES OF THE FAIR. 




THE CITY IN ITS BEST CLOTHES. 

^HE World's Fair City, during the holding of the Exposition, had 
donned its gala attire. The streets themselves were a sight long 
to be remembered, gaily decked as they were with bunting and 
enlivened by the bright-colored uniforms of the soldiery of this, 
as well as European countries. The scarlet fez of the Turk, the 
turban of the merchant from the Orient and the colored cos- 
tumes of the other visitors, mingling on the sidewalks, gazing up at the 
Masonic Temple, with its twenty stories, or the more massive Audito- 
rium, formed a picture alike pleasing to the eye and flattering to the 
city. The police regulations were so perfect that the great masses of 
the people were kept in constant motion, and accidents were of exceed- 
ingly rare occurrence. The sign, "keep to the right," posted promi- 
nently at different places, in all languages, told the stranger from every 
clime his duty. The peddler had found his way hither from far-away 
Roumania, from Cairo, from Port Said and from Constantinople, and was 
offering for sale holy relics or religious mementoes cut from the sacred 
wood of Mount Olivet, or mined from the jasper fields of Roumania. 
High above the din of all, however, comes the toot of the steamboats, 
landing or taking on passengers for the Exposition grounds. With the 
crowd that is now surging towards the Lake Front, goes the humble 
narrator of a great event. 

The steamboat transportation company had built a number of piers 
several hundred feet out into the lake. The edge of the water was, for 
fifty feet from the landing-place, protected from a crush of people by 
being railed in, and only those with tickets for the Exposition grounds 
were allowed to pass through. The regulation fare was a nickel. Once 
on one of these numerous steamboats that plied in the harbor, and well 
away from the shore, the scene from the deck was in itself a great treat. 
The motley, although not unruly crowds of people, pouring in on the 
Lake Front, through the wide streets, and the vast numbers that covered 



45^ THE world's fair. 

the park, would at first attract attention, but only for a short time^ 
Looming up in grandeur was the great Auditorium building, from every 
window a streamer and from every corner a flag. The parapet of the 
Signal Observatory Tower was draped in the flags of all nations, and at 
that height presented a glowing mass of colors. Crowds poured in and 
out of the great Art Palace, originally intended for Jackson Park, but 
afterwards built on the Lake Front, where it will remain a lasting monu- 
ment to Chicago taste and enterprise, and one of the great permanent 
outcomes of the Exposition. It may now be called her Reception Pal- 
ace, and many great characters have already met there to perfect their 
plans for the various world's congresses which are soon to assemble. 
Away down Michigan avenue, as far as the eye could reach, the same 
glowing appearance was maintained. One mass of humanity surged 
past the pretentious dwellings. The steamboat was freighted with a load 
of pleasure-seekers, talking in almost all the tongues of Babel. But 
through all the animated discussions ran, evidently, a vein of pleasure 
and amazement, and the word "Chicago," though pronounced in a thou- 
sand different tongues, was still easily recognizable. 

THE APPROACH TO THE FAIR. 

All around, the surface of the water, until well out of the harbor^ 
was covered with small pleasure craft or other passenger vessels. Once 
outside the breakwater, and headed south, what lake craft we meet are 
mostly all engaged in passenger service between the city and the Fair. 
Strains of music now and then come across the water from a passing 
craft. Well out in the lake, the vessel heads almost due south, and only 
the general outlines of the shore are visible. Way off south, with its 
huge roof rising above all else, is seen the immense Manufactures and 
Liberal Arts Building. For several miles it remains alone, its gigantic 
proportions looming up even as the steamboat leaves the Lake Front 
harbor. Drawing nearer, the outlines of the harbor at the site begin to 
appear; the great towers assume a more definite shape; a large, black 
hull, with streamers floating from its masts, looks as if closely hugging 
the shore; numerous black specks seem in constant motion on the surface 
of the water; what appear to be dark lines run out on the water, and lo! 
as the mind is wondering what it all means, the black specks become 
busy passenger steamers; the shapeless hull resolves itself into a gigan- 
tic Man-of-War; the dark lines running out from the shore become 
jetties; and as the mind takes it partly in, but is still bewildered with a 



THE APPROACH TO THE FAIR. 



453 



sense of awe, the strains of martial music break on the ear, the vast 
building-s come into view, and the visitor sees before him the great 
Columbian Exposition of 1893. 

The approach to the Fair by way of the harbor is the most im- 
pressive and inspiring- which can be imagined. As we approach the 




shore our eyes are attracted by the beautiful peristyle which spans the 
mouth of the grand lagoon, which here enters the lake. At one end 
of this is the Music Hall and at the other the Casino. Beneath, the 
boats of all nations pass to and fro into the vast water-ways of the 
Fair grounds. From the south bank of the lagoon the great pier 
extends out into the lake a distance of fifteen hundred feet, taking 
at that distance a turn of sevpral hundred feet to the southward 



454 THE world's fair. 

and having at its extremity (rising from the water on a stone foundation) 
an immense Greek paviHon, its graceful roofs, or awnings, gaily colored 
and adorned. Here numerous visitors are seen enjoying the cooling 
lake breezes, listening to the music and obtaining a magnificent view of 
the great Exposition buildings and other shore attractions. Not the least 
of these is the gigantic battle-ship, constructed on piling, protected by a 
breakwater, surrounded by water and apparently moored to a wharf. 
From the battle-ship, at times, comes the invigorating strains of the 
Washington Marine Band, which scarcely die away before the last notes 
are gathered up by some colossal outburst of the Thomas Orchestra, or 
the Tomlins Chorus, from the superb Music Hall on the Exposition 
grounds. Not far away from this model ship of the line are not only a 
life-saving station in active operation, but a little Columbian fleet has 
cast anchor, seemingly just from Spain. Near by, also, are a clean-cut 
revenue cutter and several portentous torpedo boats. To get a view 
of such attractions, the dense crowds which swarm along the shore flow 
out upon the jetties. 

THE FAIR'S GRAND AVENUE. 

As the boat draws up at the landing by the pier, something more 
than a confused view of massive and elegant structures, domes, pagodas, 
towers, flags, streamers and general magnificence is at length presented. 
It is scarcely conceivable that the beauties and grandeurs of landscape 
and structural architecture, which begin to unfold the moment the visitor 
steps upon the pier, are the creations of only three years. In these 
final triumphs, however, is seen the wisdom of selecting for the main 
site of the Exposition a tract of wooded and diversified land, in which 
nature had already partially dug the beds of the lagoons and traced the 
courses of the canals around which the great structures are now 
grouped with an air of almost conscious dignity and confidence. 

The creators of the Fair, moreover, with rare judgment, had placed 
in direct line of the grand approach from the lake their master-piece of 
art — an architectural perspective, or vista, which has never been equaled 
at any of the World's Fairs. Extending westward is a long, broad ave- 
nue, several hundred feet in width, the central portions occupied by a 
charming sheet of water, connected with the harbor. In the foreground 
are a beautiful bridge and an heroic statue of Columbia. Beyond is a gen- 
erous basin, from which canals branch each way. 

Far beyond is the pride of American architects, the Administration 



SOUTHERN END OF THE SITE. 455 

Building, fronting a grand court. Toward the north is the great struc- 
ture devoted to a display of the manufactures and liberal arts of the 
world. While not so pretentious, architecturally, as the former, it is 
justly spoken of as the Main Building. Nearly one-third of a mile long 
by 788 feet in width, with its great dome over the central entrance, it 
conveys the appropriate impression of strength and simple grace. Upon 
the other side of the basin is the Agricultural Building, 800x500 feet^ 
rectangular in form, but elaborately ornamented with statues and other 
relief work. This structure is connected with Machinery Hall by a 
horseshoe arcade, which doubles a branch of the lagoon. It is almost 
identical with it in the matter of size and cost, but differs considerably 
in appearance, being "serious, impressive and rich in architectural line 
and detail." 

Opposite Machinery Hall and north of it, in the center of this long 
avenue — at the end of this wonderful vista of nearly a^mile — stands the 
Administration Building. Beyond all cavil, this is one of the most im- 
posing and, in proportion to its size, the most expensive one of the large 
structures. It is stately and simple, yet exceedingly striking in appear- 
ance, and an excellent representation of Italian Renaissance. It cost 
§650,000, is adorned with scores of statuary figures and surmounted by 
a gilded dome rising 250 feet, or about the height of the Auditorium 
tower. 

To the northward of the Administration Building, on either side,, 
and facing the grand aventie, are two immense buildings — one for the 
Electrical and the other for the Mining exhibits. Each covers a little 
over five and a half acres. The Electrical Building cost $650,000, while 
that for the Mining exhibit cost $350,000. 

A BIT OF NATURE. 

Now, north of these, on the main lagoon, the visitor sees an island 
of about thirty acres, kept as wild and primitive as possible. It is a 
relief to cross to its shores and wander through a miniature "forest 
primeval," pathless and untransformed by art, hunting the fragrant wild 
flower or the saucy chipmunk. 

SOUTHERN END OF THE SITE. 

Proceeding from the Administration Building still further westward, 
or, more accurately, southwestward, the visitor is brought to the great 



456 . THE world's fair. 

structure which furnishes the power for both lighting purposes and 
for operating the machinery. This main powerhouse is a huge build- 
ing, covering several acres. It is used also to contain the overflow 
exhibits from Machinery Hall, with which it is connected. 

The ponderous engines, moving with a power that seems enough 
to turn the world, have an unceasing fascination for all comers. To 
avoid all smoke on the grounds hard coal is used altogether for fuel. 

To the southward of the line of buildings which are ranged along 
the grand avenue is an open space of sixty-three acres, which is devoted 
to the Live Stock exhibits. Here immense buildings have been erected, 
as well as a spacious show ring. The crowd in this neighborhood is 
always very dense. 

GOING NORTH. 

Jackson Park is, in form, a right-angled triangle, and so far the 
visitor on his tour of inspection has traversed the lake shore, or hypothe- 
nuse of the triangle, and across the southern end or base. Now, he turns 
toward the north and notes the structures ranged along the perpendicu- 
lar. The first one to be encountered is the Transportation Building. 
It is Romanesque in style and one of the largest of all, measuring 1,020 
by 260 feet, exclusive of a great annex in the rear. Together with the 
depots, it cost $1,000,000. North of this is the Horticultural Hall, 
another immense structure, 1,000x250, with three domes — one at each 
end and a larger one in the center. It is constructed mainly of glass 
and iron, and $250,000 has been expended upon it. 

THE WOMAN'S PALACE. 

Still further north, and direcdy opposite the park entrance of Mid- 
way Plaisance, stands the Woman's Building, which is certainly one of 
the chief objects of interest in the grounds. It was designed by a lady 
architect — Miss Sophia G. Hayden, of Boston, a Chilean by birth, but 
coming of an old Massachusetts family and being thoroughly grounded 
in the principles of architecture. The dimensions of the building are 
400x200 feet; the cost is $250,000; the style, Italian Renaissance. The 
corner and center pavilions are connected in the first story by an open 
arcade, surmounted by classic vases. There are double pilasters on the 
corners of the pavilions. The second-story curtains are recessed, with 
windows opening on the balcony of the first-story arcade. The center 
pavilion contains the main entrance of the building, and the entire palace 



WATER PALACES AND PALATIAL AQUARIA. 4^7 

IS covered with a low Italian roof. Here the Lady Managers have their 
headquarters. 

Beyond the Woman's Temple — the Temple itself, and all that it con- 
tains, being the work of her mind or her hands — is the embodiment of 
the enterprise, the wealth, the generosity and the genius of the people 
of Illinois, who did so much to make the Fair what it is. Their build- 
ing (430x160 feet), with its speaking dome, stands northwest of the main 
system of lagoons, and south of the eighty or ninety acres, just beyond 
that charming system, which is devoted to the exhibits of other States 
and of foreign countries. 

WATER PALACES AND PALATIAL AQUARIA. 

South and east of the tract covered by the State and foreign exhib- 
its, and just beyond the wooded island, the lagoons and canals become 
more intricate and enclose a number of small islands. These, however, 
are far from being in a state of nature. East of the Woman's and Illi- 
nois buildings, and directly west of the channel by which the lagoons 
connect with Lake Michigan in this northern portion of the site, is the 
largest of the islands, and upon it is a Romanesque, or Spanish-looking 
structure, warm with color, and fully 700 feet in length. The main 
building is connected by curved arcades, with a circular aquarium at 
either end. Through their clear waters an entrancing spectacle is pre- 
sented of marine animals and marine plants, forests and mountains. The 
most secret habits of the creatures of both ocean and river may be stud- 
ied, the buildings being those of the United States Fish Commission, a 
•department or bureau of the National Government. 

South of these attractions, upon the mainland, and in direct line with 
the vast structure given up to the manufacturers, rises the classical fea- 
tures, of apparent stone, iron and glass, called the Government Building, 
and beyond it, toward the east and the lake shore, are the land batteries, 
life-saving station, the war-ship and other sights which have been already 
■witnessed from the deck. 

STAFF. 

The visitor cannot help being impressed with the magnificence 
and solidity of appearance of all the buildings he has seen. He has 
probably asked himself the question, how can they afford to build 
these great structures, which are only to be used for six months, out 
-of granite and marble and sandstone, and how have such great stone 



45^ THE world's fair. 

buildings, with their carved and polished columns and cornices, been 
put up in a few months' time — for surely they are all built of stone. 

Alas for the truth! these imposing walls of granite, these beauti- 
ful statues of marble, these exquisitely carved doorways, are _jonly 
wood, covered with a product of human invention called " staff." It is 
made of gypsum, cement and seaweed, shaped in moulds, and 
attached to the plebeian wood in thin slabs. The whole is then 
colored to represent the kind of stone to be imitated, and when all is 
done only an expert can detect the difference. 

Besides being cheap and quickly applied, this staff has the 
virtue of being fire-proof, and so, while adding to the grandeur of the 
buildings, protects them also. 

VENICE OUTDONE. 

Before we proceed further in our ramble, let us ascend this obser- 
vation tower near at hand. Several of these towers are located in 
different parts of the grounds, to enable one to view the Fair from above. 
Speeding to the top in the elevator, let us take a sweeping view of the 
lagoons and fix them in our mind's eye, for they have done much to make 
this Fair an artistic and social success. All in all, they embrace a stretch 
of land considerably over a mile in length, and from loo to 300 feet in 
breadth. As stated, they connect with the lake, through the harbor, 
east of the fascinating fish display and between the Manufactures and 
Agricultural buildings. The gay waters are set in grassy plats, sloping 
down gently to meet their ripples, and fringed with broad walks of stone 
and gravel. Both rustic and pretentious bridges of staff, some of them 
apparently of granite, variegated marble and other stone, cross the 
lagoons and the canals at convenient points. Little pleasure boats of all 
epochs and nations dart hither and thither, enter the grand basin from 
the glittering and animated harbor, shooting under the bridge and past 
the serene statue of Columbia, with the thirteen States, sweep along the 
shores of the seething court which so superbly sets off the beauties of 
the Administration palace, then turning and leaving all this behind, with 
merry dip of oars, laughter and song, dart between the Electrical Building 
(which has a kind of a weird look about it) and the long, impressive 
Manufacturers' home, and so on to the wooded island and the wonders 
of the Government, the Woman's, the State, the Water and the Foreign 
palaces. Or it may be that the pleasure-seekers and seekers after 
knowledge are bent upon a more quiet and systematic survey of the Fair. 




ADMIXISTKATIOX 111' II, DING 
200 fcft liigb. Cost, $650,000. 



THE CAPTIVE BALLOON. 461 

The gondolas and other craft, therefore, stop at commodious landing- 
places, scattered over the site, and find all the attractions grouped 
around and along these convenient water-ways. 

At night, when the electric lights come forth in all their purity, the 
scene, both within the buildings and outside, is even more glorious. 
Above all flash the bright gleams from the lights on the pinnacles of 
the roofs, while the many walks in the park, the buildings, the boats, 
the steamers in the harbor, brilliantly lighted as they are, lay below in 
quiet peace. The great bustle of the day has been stilled, and from 
some nook in the lagoon come the strains of the mandolin, the guitar 
or the harp, the yodle of some one from the land of William Tell, the 
tuneful singing of a party of excursionists from Bremen or the Rhine, 
or an aria from some opera in sweet woman's voice, as a gondola 
speeds by. Pleasure parties proudly carol the songs of their father- 
lands, or perhaps some Chinese mandarin sends forth a monotonous 
tum-tum, imagining himself once more speeding through the heart of 
Canton. From prow and stern of boats hang gaily-colored lanterns,, 
although the brilliant way in which the grounds are lighted obviated 
the necessity for any such precaution. Beautiful effects are produced 
on the water by the insertion of colored globes containing electric lights. 
The prow of a boat one moment cuts through a surface of glittering 
orange color, then through one of crimson, and again through a dark 
green wave, turning the spray on either side as if it were scattering 
precious stones. 

The branches from the islands in the lagoons hang heavy with 
Chinese lanterns, or incandescent lights, of various colors, artistically- 
arranged in the forks of the trees. And under all this glorious mass- 
ing of colors the gay costumes of the European visitors show to fine 
advantage. Venice, in the palmiest days of the Medici, is outdone. 

THE CAPTIVE BALLOON. 
If the Observation Tower does not give us a wide enough outlook 
let us screw up courage and step into the basket of this Captive Bal- 
loon. While we hold our breath the huge globe shoots up a thousand 
feet or more into space. The grand Exposition lies at our very 
feet, its distant hum scarcely reaching our ears. The entire 586 
acres of Jackson Park, and the harbor and lake beyond, are ready for 
inspection. The grand Plaisance, 600 feet in width and over a mile in 
length, which forms the main approach to the Fair proper by land,, 
stretches away on the other hand — a f«w hundred feet, it seems, of glory. 



462 THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

Still beyond are the 370 acres of Washington Park — a toy village and a 
patch of brilliancy, fountains and flowers. Still to the west, miles to the 
north and miles to the south is the city — its loftiest spires, its most wide- 
embracing domes, its most triumphant monuments to commerce and trade, 
massing themselves against the northern skies. And as far as the eye 
can sweep, over water or land, there is either movement or color. 

Along the Plaisance and overflowing into Washington Park is a large 
■and curious aggregation of foreign and state buildings, intermingled with 
those of semi-private construction. Very many beautiful structures are 
to be seen, many of them reproductions of famous houses of history, or 
•exhibit buildings erected by different branches of trade, such as those 
■devoted to the music interests, which subscribed liberally for a house of 
their own. One fact is very noticeable in reference to all of the import- 
ant buildings. They stand on terraces, a few feet above the general park 
level, thus greatly improving the landscape effect and rendering their 
own appearance more imposing. The structures have all the appearance 
of magnificent palaces of marble, granite and glass, but are built princi- 
pally of wood and staff; yet the same grandeur of design, beauty of 
finish, evenness of color and solidity are there as attach to the main 
buildings of the Fair — except, of course, in less degree. This can be 
seen from our airy station. 

In order, however, to get the full benefit of the unique attractions 
which have overflowed from the main site of the Fair, the rambler takes 
a glide downward and earthward. He may at once fancy himself as 
living in any age or clime; for before him is a street in ancient Rome, 
and just beyond a Pompeiian home, an Arab's tent, an Indian's wigwam, 
a Japanese village with specimens of wonderful landscape gardening, a 
Laplander's hut, an East Indian temple, or a camp of gypsy fortune- 
tellers. Gems of modern architecture, contributed by France, Germany, 
England, Russia, Spain, Italy and other nations, are there. All the 
powers of the earth, of whatever rank, have come to recognize the good 
fellowship and the commanding position of the American Republic. 

THE DRIVING PARK. 

Before leaving behind the bolder features of the Fair and taking 
up the details of administration, an attraction should be noticed which, 
although not, strictly speaking, a portion of the great Exposition, is 
closely joined to it, both as to locality and patronage. 

Near the Live Stock exhibit, at the southern extremity of the Fair, 



THE CARE OF LIFE AND PROPERTY. 463 

is the Gentleman's Driving Park. Here, every afternoon, may be wit- 
nessed great trials of skill and speed. The fine points of the American 
trotter, with his feather-weight yet durable gig, prove a source of end- 
less wonder and amusement to the great mass of the European visitors. 
As every one knows, the roads of Europe are not conducive to the 
breeding of a Sunol or a Maud S. The steeple-chasers of England 
give daily proofs of their ability to take to stone walls and high fences 
as ducks do to water, and, in a sense, lessen the apparent superiority 
of American horseflesh. A number of fine specimens of the far-famed 
Arabian steed are seen, their milky whiteness and gentle manners 
making them the pets of the lady visitors. The smallest Shetland 
pony and the heaviest of Clydesdales are daily exhibited, selected from 
the great number at the live stock exhibit near by. In fact, since the 
creation of the world, such a variety of these superb animals has never 
been brought together, and never before have such object lessons been 
given of their race, their fleetness, their strength, their mettle, their 
docility and their affection, as are being continually witnessed at the 
Gentleman's Driving Park. Taken in connection with the Fair's exhi- 
bition of horses, this is one of the most popular features of the entire 
Exposition. 

THE CARE OF LIFE AND PROPERTY. 

When one commences to examine the intricate machinery which 
has been planned and put in motion by the management of the World's 
Fair, it becomes plain why the general headquarters, or the Adminis- 
tration Building, should be the center of so much activity and interest ; 
it seems more than ever appropriate that the Administration Building 
should be the architectural gem of the Exposition. 

The great problems which have been so perfectly mastered are 
the protection to life and property, and the distribution of visitors, of 
light and of water. There are also a thousand and one details relating 
to the convenience and the pleasure of our guests, which go to form 
this wonderful system, kept oiled, in repair and in operation by the 
ability enthroned at the Administration Building. 

First, the visitor makes note of the police system. It is evident 
that there is no necessity for the police other than to handle the crowds, 
as expert detectives from all countries closely scrutinize all who enter 
the grounds, and refuse admission to suspicious characters. When 
visitors enter the World's Fair grounds they will find a Columbian 



464 THE world's fair. 

Guard of 1,500 men to protect them in their wanderings about the 
grounds and buildings. The guards do not have the appearance of 
the policemen who travel beats in the City of Chicago, but each is 
clothed in a natty uniform of blue, consisting of a braided blouse and 
trousers, with bright red stripes. They wear a fatigue cap modeled 
somewhat after an Austrian design, and carry a mahogany mace and 
a short bayonet sword. 

These men are under the direction of Col. Edmund Rice, U. S. A. 
Col. Rice will be the commander of the guard and have general 
police supervision over the grounds during the period of the Fair. In 
order to secure his services a special act of Congress was necessary, 
and it was passed, for the Colonel belongs to the Department of the 
Missouri, with headquarters at Chicago, where he has been under 
Gen. Miles as Acting Judge-Advocate. 

The Columbian Guards are a fine body of men. No one can 
enter the service whose age is more than thirty-five years. The 
applicant must be intelligent and active. He must be courteous as 
well as muscular and capable of giving information concerning the 
grounds and buildings to all inquirers. 

These men have been selected from the many applicants because 
of their familiarity with the European tongues. A force of mounted 
police also patrols the grounds. 

It is believed that the staff, and the more solid material of Avhich 
the foundations of buildings are constructed, are fire-proof, but in order 
that every precaution may be taken, a fire-department service is estab- 
lished on the grounds. Although it may not be called upon, the 
engines, hose carts, hooks and ladders, eager horses, and the parlor- 
like cleanliness of the entire apparatus form an exhibit in themselves 
which attracts large crowds of foreign friends. Occasionally, also, 
illustrations are given of the promptness with which the department 
could respond and bring -the saving torrents of water to bear upon a 
conflagration. 

A frolicking party may occasionally get turned over into the har- 
bors or the lagoons, but either policemen or members of the life- 
saving service are always within reach if their assistance is required. 

True to their practical wisdom and good hearts, the Lady Man- 
agers have selected a grand central point in the grounds, at which 
interpreters are stationed, and to which all lost guests, whether chil- 
dren or elders, are conducted. A hospital, established near by, is 
under the especial patronage of the Board of Lady Managers. It fre- 



WATER AND LIGHT. 



465 



quently happens that in the great crushes women faint, or perhaps 
receive serious injuries. Whenever this is the case, however, the 
ambulance corps comes immediately to the rescue, and prompt assist- 
ance is rendered. 



WATER AND LIGHT. 

Fountains innumerable play all over the grounds. No matter 
where the visitor turns he encounters the flowing faucet and the wait- 
ing cup. The water is supplied from two 12,000,000-gallon pumps at 
Sixty-eighth street. They were erected by the city of Chicago for the 
needs of the Exposition, at a cost of $100,000. During the Fair the 
company has exclusive right to use the puhips, paying the city $20 
per million gallons of water furnished. When the Fair closes the city 
acquires the pumping outfit by repaying the sum advanced, without 
interest. 

In addition there is a plant of four 
Worthington pumps on the Exposi- 
tion grounds with a capacity of 40, 
000,000 gallons per day, which takes 
water from the lagoons for steam ma- 
chinery and for the fountains. In case 
of fire or breakdown of the city pump- 
ing-works these pumps are expected 
to furnish a full supply. Water is 
brought into the grounds from the 
Hyde Park station through a 36-inch 
main to Machinery Hall, where it 
divides, and two 30-inch mains conduct 
it throughout the grounds. Each Ex- 
position building is surrounded by a 
water pipe not less than eight inches 
AN EXPOSITION LETTER-BOX. iu dlametcr. This pipe is crossed at 

every 300 feet by a six-inch pipe, attached to which is a double- 
nozzled, frost-jacket, fire hydrant. Within the walls of each build- 
ing, at intervals of 150 feet, are standpipes rising to the roof, with 
hose connections on each floor, gallery, and roof Altogether there 
are twenty miles of water-pipe. 

A hundred thousand incandescent lamps, placed harmoniously 
about the grounds and buildings, and 10,000 arc lamps, distributed 




466 THE world's fair. 

advantageously to light tip the beautiful architecture and pleasing 
landscape, alone furnish almost a fairy spectacle, but combine with 
these, electric fountains pointing rainbow sprays toward the sky, ignes 
fatui in the shape of glittering lamps of many colors sparkling under 
the clear waters of the lagoons, and at night setting out in all their 
dainty colorings Uncle John Thorpe's floral beauties, and the most 
brilliant kaleidoscope will fade in an every-day dull contrast. Then 
add to such a scene panoramic glimpses of the totd ensemble made by 
those great electric reflectors as their almost demoniac eyes wander 
about the earth and shoot their rays into the heavens, and the result 
can be better imagined than described. This is what electricity does 
for the whole scene of the great Fair. 

It was at first thought that the cost of lighting the grounds and 
buildings would alone cost nearly $2,000,000. But by awakening a 
spirit of rivalry among the electric lighting companies, and inducing 
them to furnish the plant and lamps at a nominal figure for the purpose 
of advertising their wares, this cost was reduced to about $400,000. 

MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION. 

No one feature of the Fair's management causes more surprise 
and delight than the absence of friction in the handling of the vast 
crowds both without and within the Exposition grounds. The traveler 
may come by carriage, by cable, or by rail, and be carried from one 
section to another on the elevated roads which connect and penetrate 
the buildings, or follow the broad ways which surround them. Or he 
may arrive by steamer from the lake, and board one of the gay boats 
which glide from building to building along the lagoons. 

All passenger railways, whether steam, cable, electric or horse, 
enter the park at the southwest corner, though some of them have 
stations at the Midway Plaisance or other convenient places outside 
the grounds. Those roads entering the enclosure deliver passengers 
near the Administration Building. From this place an intramural 
electric elevated road passes out through the grounds, entering build- 
ings where deemed advisable and having convenient stations wherever 
necessary. It connects with the station at the Midway Plaisance and 
passes back to the Administration Building by another route, thus 
forming a complete circuit and making it easy to go from one place to 
another without walking. 

This elevated system is double-tracked, and trains of electric cars 



THE RETURN TRIP. 467 

speed along at intervals of a few minutes. Single-trip fares are five 
cents. There are something over five miles of track, and stations at 
intervals of about i,ooo feet. In addition to the elevated road there 
is for the accommodation of visitors on the grounds a fleet of boats 
which ply on the canals and lagoons. These also are operated by 
electricity. 

Within the enclosures of the grounds no private vehicles are 
allowed; the transportation from building to building is effected by 
either the intramural railway, just described, or the pleasure boats 
on the lagoons. The crowds are so dense that it would have been 
positively dangerous to permit the presence of any vehicles. Sedan 
chairs, as a curiosity, are seen in places, many of them representing 
those in use in England a couple of hundred years ago. One can ride 
in them on the payment of a dime. On certain paths, however, 
bicycles and tricycles are allowed, but they are confined to the drive- 
ways bordering the lake shore. Here the marvelous dexterity of the 
wheelmen is apparent, and friendly races are indulged in between 
rival American as well as rival European clubs. 

THE RETURN TRIP. 

And now for the trip " down town." Near the many exits stand 
interpreters, who answer all questions put by the visitors. The peddler, 
who has been excluded from the grounds, is there in all his glory, with 
everything imaginable to sell, from a history of the Exposition, bird's- 
eye views of the grounds and gaily-colored lithographs of the various 
buildings, to a button from the coat of George Washington, the best 
blacking, and the surest hair restorer. Opposite the long line of the 
Fair enclosure, while the buildings were numerous and put to almost 
every conceivable use, there was a noticeable absence of anything 
unsightly and cheap. This must be credited to the City Council, which 
in January of 1891, passed an ordinance regulating the construction of" 
such buildings. Although within the grounds there are cafes of differ- 
ent nations, still the restaurants without are very numerous indeed, 
and of a very respectable kind. 

No matter where the visitor turns, he will be within half a block 
of some of the many depots erected by the different railroads, which 
further on enter the grounds on the great loop already referred to. 
But however great the crush, it is evident that the police are still 
masters of the situation. From three o'clock to seven p. m. and from 



468 THE world's fair. 

nine to twelve o'clock, trains leave the site every two minutes. At 
other hours of the day transportation to the city is to be had by rail- 
way every five minutes, and by cable almost continuously. 

A cable train leaving at the moment of his exit from the grounds, 
the narrator boarded it and returned to the city. The ride occupied 
forty minutes, but it was a most interesting one, as the mind was engaged 
in watching the streams of pedestrians, and noting the large hotels 
erected but a short time. Signs were everywhere to be seen 
telling the Germans, the Frenchmen, the Italians and others that 
their language was spoken within and that one of their countrymen 
kept the hostelry. It was noted that a certain class of visitors more 
frequently patronized the cable than other lines, for the reason that it 
afforded them more of a novelty, being essentially an American con- 
trivance, and very rarely seen abroad. Every few blocks the car was 
boarded by interpreters, in the employ of the company, who Avere 
notified by the conductor if they were required to answer any question 
put to him. This was one of the most convenient features, and among 
the most appreciated by the guests of Chicago, as it gave them a sense 
of security and a knowledge that they could at all times be 
understood. 

Once down town, the mind became so confused that the memory 
was all but paralyzed ; nevertheless, a few general facts were noted. It 
had not been the custom, previous to the opening of the Fair, for the 
great stores to remain open very long after supper, but, in many a 
double force of clerks was now employed, and all remained open until 
ten o'clock, many not closing until eleven. 

The theatres were all densely packed. Going into the Audito- 
rium and looking from the gallery, the spectator saw beneath him a 
mass of people which would be equivalent to the population of a small 
city. Grand opera was having a run, and the glorious tenor of 
Tamagno rolled out over the little world of beating hearts. Officials 
in gilded uniforms, attaches from foreign courts, members of embassies, 
almost everyone in full dress — royalty, aristocracy and democracy 
all blended under the magic wand of the musician. And such was 
the triumph of genius in every prominent place of amusement. Good 
nature and charity ruled the hour and the season. Chicago and her 
guests were in close communion. "Good will upon earth and peace 
among men " was the text endorsed by two million proud residents 
and happy visitors within this fair city of this Columbian Exposition. 





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UNCLE SAM'S EXHIBIT. 




A SHORT PRELIMINARY. 

F the many nations represented at the Paris Exposition, America, 
the greatest of them all, made the poorest exhibit. Europeans 
laughed it to ridicule, and Americans blushed for shame. It 
was this state of affairs that primarily suggested the Exposition 
to influential and intelligent citizens, both West and East. 
Uncle Sam, smarting under the ridicule at Paris^ was determined 
to be glorified in the exhibit made at Chicago. As a consequence, the 
Government was very liberal in the appropriations made for that purpose. 
Among other things, it was provided in the Congressional act that there 
should be exhibited by the Government, from its executive departments, 
the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Fish Commission and the 
National Museum, such articles and materials as would illustrate the 
functions and administrative faculty of the Government in time of peace, 
and its resources as a war power — all tending to demonstrate the nature 
of our institutions and their adaptation to the wants of the people. The 
board chosen was charged with the selection, preparation and arrange- 
ment, safe-keeping and exhibition of the collections. 

Now, let us see how nobly the original plan has been carried out. 
The Government Building, covering an area of 350x450 feet, is con- 
structed solely of iron, brick, staff and glass. Its leading feature is an 
octagonal dome in the center, while the style of the architecture is clas- 
sical, bastions on the corner — relieving the dead line of the facades. 

The department exhibits are distributed as follows: On entering 
the building by the west main entrance, the exhibit of the Department 
of Justice is. reached, being displayed in a long narrow room, opening 
into the dome. On the south side of this room is the War Department, 
and to the north, that of the Interior. South of the dome is the space 
for the Agricultural exhibit, and north, that for the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion. In the northwest corner is the space allotted to the Fish Commis- 



472 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

sion, while in the southwest room are the Treasury and Post-office 
departments. The main entrance of this great building resembles some- 
what the Arc de Triomphe^ at Paris. The annexes to the structure afford 
50,000 additional feet of floor space, which accommodate among other 
unique exhibits, that of the Military Hospital. Uncle Sam, outside of 
the cost of his building, spent #1,000,000 on his exhibits. 

THE AGRICULTURAL EXHIBIT. 

But to pass to a consideration of the different department exhibits, 
and what the government has done to enlighten the visitors from other 
countries. The Secretary of Agriculture afforded every possible sup- 
port to the gathering of specimens illustrative of the agricultural 
resources of this vast country, and a great exhibition has therefore been 
prepared of the various kinds of cereals, fruits, vegetables and grasses. 
The series illustrating the modification of crops by soil and climate proves 
a most interesting portion of the display, not only to farmers, but to the 
general public. The chemistry division of this great department picks 
your food to pieces and tells you what it is made of. In fact, the visitor 
and stranger may learn here, by the floral, horticultural and agricultural 
display of American products of the soil, by samples of seeds, reports 
of the department, exhibitions of obnoxious insects and fungi and speci- 
mens of their destructive work, what a broad and useful field of labor is 
filled by the Agricultural Department. Other divisions of the depart- 
ment illustrate, by large and beautifully prepared maps, the distribution 
of animals and vegetables in the United States, and their intimate con- 
nection. 

The magnificent extent and value of our forests have never before 
been so demonstrated as by the special exhibit put forth by this depart- 
ment. From Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin and California to Georgia, 
Alabama, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida and Louisiana; from the 
pine forests of the Ottawa, the Alleghanies, the Mississippi Valley and 
Chili, the monsters of California and the mahogany forests of Northern 
South America, to the wonderful woods of Australia and India, the speci- 
mens are collected, prepared and arranged as to utility and beauty. The 
redwood of California especially draws the crowds. The section on ex- 
hibition came from Tulare County, and was cut from a tree which meas- 
ured 99 feet in circumference at the base and was 3 1 2 feet high. The 
distance from the ground to the first limb, which was three feet in diame- 
ter, was 172 feet. This tree was supposed to be 3,000 years old. 



474 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

The Weather Bureau was formerly under control of the War De- 
partment, but was transferred to the Agricultural, in July, 1891. The 
workings of the Bureau are hourly illustrated by the giving out of re- 
ports to visitors, with explanations, if required. In the very clouds, also, 
at the pinnacle of the great Observation Tower, is a branch of the 
United States Signal Service, hourly sending its indications to the Bureau 
in the Government Building, and displaying its tell-tale flags to hundreds 
of thousands of people — some on land and some far out on the lake. 

THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT. 

In the Department of the Interior may be seen samples of clothing 
and food furnished the Indians, with large maps showing where are the 
principal reservations, and intelligent officials in attendance to explain the 
government policy. The Indian Bureau and the Bureau of Ethnology 
furnish much of the material to illustrate th-^ primitive savage and the 
progress of the American Indian in agricultural and industrial pursuits. 
At the headquarters of the Bureau of Education, information may be 
obtained about schools for Indians and colored children, industrial, tech- 
nical and normal schools, kindergartens, compulsory laws, and the gath- 
ering of educational statistics. The geology of the United States is 
studied by means of a large map, with specimens of soil, rocks and min- 
erals as practical illustrations. The General Land Office furnishes a map 
which tells with startling force how much of the original domain has been 
granted to railroads and how much is left to the people. Those who are 
interested in the workings of the Pension Office — the largest bureau of 
the Department of the Interior — may examine them here in the series of 
papers and books exhibited for that purpose. 

The Patent Office makes a vast display of the inventive genius of 
the American people. Some of the most important of the models and 
the drawings of machines invented since we became a nation are here 
seen, so that one is able to trace the development of any kind of 
mechanism in which he is interested. The collection would be even 
larger than it is had not two fires in the Patent Office destroyed thou- 
sands of models and drawings. 

THE NAVAL AND WAR EXHIBITS. 

The great naval exhibit speaks well for the rapid strides which have 
been made by the American Navy during the past few years. At the 
foot of Fifty- ninth street, moored to a pier built out into the lake, is an 



THE NAVAL AND WAR EXHIBITS. 475 

exact duplicate of an American man-of-war, equipped in the most modern 
fashion and containing on its several decks the different appliances now 
in use in naval warfare. The use of torpedoes, and the many ways in 
which electricity is made to do service at sea, in lighting, heating, tele- 
graphing, etc., are all amply illustrated. The vessel is manned as usual, 
and daily drills are given, showing the actual life of the American sea' 
man. On the third deck is a regular museum of curios, in connection 
with the naval batdes of American history A gallery of all the great 
admirals, and models of historic boats (the Monitor, Merrimac and 
others) are items among the many attractions. Along the shore are seen 
sections of fortifications, while at the point of the pier are a lighthouse 
and life-saving service outfit, manned by a picked crew from the United 
States Naval Academies. It is well to mention that on board the dupli- 
cate man-of war (which, by the way, is called the "Chicago"), are several 
crews from the United States Naval Academies, and the method of 
training boys for sea service is being continuously exemplified. This 
wonderful model is built of brick, coated with cement, or of staff, is 348 
feet long, sixty-nine feet amidships, and supplied, as stated, with all the 
fittings and apparatus that belong to the most approved war vessel, such 
as guns, turrets, torpedo tubes, torpedo nets and booms, boats and 
anchors. On the shore, close to the battle ship, the Government has 
placed a gun battery, life-saving station, complete with apparatus, a light- 
house, and war balloons. Of the workings of these, examples are given 
every day. 

The War exhibit, which is placed in the same class as that of the 
Navy, was very readily prepared, inasmuch as its component parts had 
been ready for some time. 

From the Ordnance Museum of the War Department came models 
of rifles, revolvers, cannon, balls, etc., in use, with relics of earlier days; 
from the Quartermaster's Department, models and pictures of tents, bar- 
racks, storehouses, hospitals, etc. ; from the Medical Museum (an Institu- 
tion which has not a second), thousands of photographs illustrating the 
diseases and wounds of war, with their treatment, a display of modern 
and ancient surgical instruments, and models of ambulances and railroad 
cars. The Naval Museum gives a vivid picture of the manufacture of 
all naval appliances, and over its collection of relics one lingers with 
amused satisfaction. 

The displays of improved small arms are very complete, as well as 
exhibitions of the giant guns. Not only is the visitor shown how 
cartridges are made, but models of the most scientific engineering works 




LIFE-SAVING APPARATUS. 
476 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. ,-^ 

are in this museum, flags and guns from the battlefields of our four wars, 
and portraits of our famous military leaders. 

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

The greatest of the scientific institutions — practical as well as sci- 
entific — which is connected with the government is the Smithsonian. In 
short, whatever portion of sea and land can be reached by the Govern- 
ment of the United States is within the direct scientific jurisdiction of the 
Smithsonian Institute. From Alaska to Patagonia, and from Labrador 
to the Argentine country are agents of the Signal Service, Coast Survey, 
consuls and naval officers, as well as paid servants of the Institute, ran- 
sacking earth and water for material upon which to build the truths of 
natural and historic development. 

Government expeditions of the United States which are sent upon 
missions quite foreign to the development of science and the increase of 
knowledge, seldom fail to remember the Smithsonian Institute. In fact, 
the Institute has the American trait of refusing to be forgotten. As an 
example, when the Government sent out the Greely relief expeditions in 
1882-4, among their members were a number of naval ensigns whom the 
Istitute had trained in photography, taxidermy, and the collection of 
minerals and fossils. Not only, therefore, was the prime object of the 
expeditions accomplished, but science and knowledge were the gainers in 
valuable collections of natural history and many photographs vividly 
descriptive of the country and the natives. 

From the above, it will be seen how futile it would be to attempt to 
give a detailed description of the vast exhibit of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion. But all the experience gained by it in arranging exhibits for the 
Centennial of 1876, the Louisville and Cincinnati Expositions of 1883, 
the New Orleans Cotton Exposition of 1884, and the Berlin and London 
Fisheries Expositions during the same years — all of the experience thus 
gained, and the collections made to meet the demands of those occasions, 
made the management better able to perform this last supreme act. Not 
only by its own exhibit, but by the assistance which its officials have 
rendered to other departments, has the Smithsonian Institution proved 
one of the strongest educational forces in the Columbian Exposition 
of 1893. 

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 

The world at large will be greatly interested in the exhibit of the 
Treasury Department. Of course, in this, the Bureau of Engraving and 



478 THE world's fair. 

Printing plays a prominent and most interesting part. It shows how 
paper money and revenue stamps are printed, as well as the manner in 
which the engraved plates for them are made up. The workings of the 
mint are fully illustrated, and the production of the coin, from the smelt- 
ing of the ore to its stamping and the milling of its edges. Such in- 
formation, also, as may safely be made public is furnished as to the 
means taken to protect the coin and currency of the country, and to 
detect counterfeiting — thus pointing to the secret service of this depart- 
ment. A most interesting collection is that of captured counterfeit notes, 
coins, plates, dies and molds, with photographs of noted criminals in this 
line — a collection which illustrates how much artistic, mechanical and 
chemical genius is put to criminal uses. The Treasury Department has 
its collections of coins and paper money, from colonial days to the pres- 
ent; also models and photographs of its gigantic vaults. As the milling 
machine is an American invention, it is here exhibited bodily. You may 
also examine plans of all the government buildings and maps of coast 
surveys, etc., thus learning that these matters are controlled by the 
Treasury Department. 

On the lake shore, as stated, arrangements have been made for a 
daily exhibition of the life-saving service, and victims hired for the pur- 
pose are rescued in a most realistic manner. 

OTHER DEPARTMENT EXHIBITS. 

The American post-office system is, at least, not rivaled in complete- 
ness by any other, and visitors from both hemispheres are afforded a fine 
chance to examine the practical workings of the department, from the 
time letters are deposited in the mail boxes until received. The distri- 
bution of mail on trains, use of pneumatic tubes in the collection, and 
operations of the stamp departments, weighing and carrier service, all 
come in for their share of attention. A stamped-envelope machine is a 
mechanism which is also shown. Object lessons are given daily in the 
workings of the money order departments. In fact, we have a first-class 
post-office here in active operation — not only that, but postal exhibits from 
Great Britain, Germany, France and other countries. The latter, of 
course, are not so extensive as our own, but are sufficiently complete 
to illustrate the different systems of the world and demonstrate that 
every nation might make improvements. 

The State Department presents many interesting papers, such as 
Washington's commission as commander-in-chief of the army; autograph 




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481 



482 THE WORLD'S FAlK 

letters from Washing-ton, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and lli. crowned 
monarchs of the world, and treaties made with the nations of the two 
hemispheres, a ponderous European state paper lying side by side with 
a gorgeous silken document from Japan. 

It will thus be seen that although the state department is the most 
cosmopolitan in its outside relations, the actual collection which can be 
drawn from its archives is the smallest. But every article has attached 
to it not only a personal but a dignified interest, and in examing th«* 
autographs of dead and living statesmen, kin js and queens, one realizes, 
with pride, not only the brilliant array of American statesmanship, bur 
the vast power of the nation. 



CLASSIFIED AND SPECIAL EXHIBITS. 




PLAN OF OPERATIONS. 

j^'HE Government Building and exhibits occupy, as they should; 
a central position at Jackson Park. Until the Government put 
its stamp upon the Fair it had merely the dignity of crude ore. 
Therefore, the visitor has been placed first within the Govern- 
ment Building. If he has not the diagram of the site before 
him, he undoubtedly has it well in mind. Having left the 
Government Building, the plan of operations is to visit the exhibitions 
of the great Fair in the order in which their exteriors were viewed. 
Next, then, v/e enter the Main Building. 



THE BUILDING. 

This structure, without reference to its contents, is the most mar- 
velous sight to greet the visitor's eyes. The Eifel Tower at Paris in 
1889 was the triumph of mechanical engineering skill at that time. 
But the world progresses. What seemed wonderful at Paris in 1889 
seems commonplace in Chicago to-day. Towers there are at the Fair, 
but to have built one a few hundred feet higher than the Eifel, simply 
to outdo Paris, would have been little real satisfaction. ■ Frenchmen 
would have smiled patronizingly and pointed it out as an indication of 
a lack of originality. Who shall rightfully claim originality if not the 
"Yankee," and who shall lead if not Chicago? Who can command 
language to convey an idea of the wonder of such a structure as the 
main building of the Chicago World's Fair? Here inside of eighteen 
months has sprung up a building, the erection of which only a few 
years since no engineer or contractor could have been found to under- 
take. The trusses in the roof are the largest of any in the world. 
Each truss covers a space of 386 feet. There are twenty-two of these. 



484 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



each weig-hing 200 tons. There are more than 6,000 tons of steel in 
the roof of the building alone, equal to over 600 carloads. Above 
these immense arches are smaller ones to support the lantern roof. 
These latter span only 150 feet and are thirty-six feet high. When 
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was building its depot in Jersey 
City a year or two ago, the New York newspapers devoted several 
columns each day to describing the work, and declared that the erection 
of those enormous steel trusses was the most gigantic undertaking in 




ARAB WORKMEN AT THE FAn<. 



the history of mechanical art, not excepting the Eifel Tower or the 
great Brooklyn Bridge. Yet the trusses of the Jersey City depot 
could be placed inside those of the Manufactures Building and there 
would be a clear space of fifty feet between them and the roof 

If any of our readers think of taking a contract to build such a 
structure as this, let us caution him to take account of the expense to 
be incurred in simply getting ready to do the real work. Twelve 
draughtsmen worked for months making plans of the derricks that were 
used to hoist the different parts of the trusses into place. Ordinary 
sawhorse platforms on top of each other would not answer for this 
kind of a job, and even Chicago couldn't muster a " raising bee " 
equal to such a task without the expenditure of thousands first, in the 
work of preparation. In the construction of these derricks, 250,000 
feet of timber and 43 tons of steel rods for bracing were used. The 
derricks were built in the form of three towers, supporting a large 



A CITY IN ITSELF. 



485 



swinging platform 125 feet above the floor of the building. On top of 
this platform was another derrick 90 feet high, with swinging booms, 
to swing the different pieces of the truss into place. The under der- 
ricks rested on tracks running the length of the building, a set of tracks 
for each derrick. When one truss was in position, the derricks were 
moved along a hundred feet for the next one. An idea of the strain 
these great trusses are subjected to, may be conceived from the fact 
that the pins used in fastening the different parts together are eight 
and ten inches in diameter. 

A CITY IN ITSELF. 

How fully do you comprehend the magnitude of this greatest 
structure in the world, by the statement that it covers more than 33 
acres of ground ? The distance around the ordinary race-course is 
half a mile. The distance around the Manufactures Building is 
within but a few feet of one mile. Figure it for yourself. The length 
is 1,687 feet, and the width 787 feet. It required over 3,000,000 feet of 




IN THE ZOOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT. 



lumber for the floor alone, equal to about 200 carloads. It took five 
carloads of nails to lay this floor. In the entire building were used 
17,000,000 feet of lumber, equal to about 1,250 carloads, and over 
12,000,000 pounds of iron, equal to over 600 carloads. 



486 THE world's fair. 

The Cathedral of St. Peter's at Rome is the largest church edifice 
in the world. The largest church in the United States, with possibly- 
one or two exceptions, would go inside the vestibule of St. Peter's. 
Eight such buildings as the famous Auditorium of Chicago could be 
erected inside of St. Peter's. Imagine then, if you can, what the 
Manufactures Building is hke, when we say that three such buildings 
as St. Peter's at Rome could be erected on its floor space. The 
average ordinary cottage residence covers a space of 25 feet front by 
50 feet deep. A city of one thousand such residences, and five to ten 
thousand population, could be contained beneath the roof of the main 
building, and the glass lantern roof, 250 feet above, could be easily 
imagined the perpetual blue vault of heaven. 

Taking the space in the fifty-foot gallery running round the 
interior of the building, together with the ground floor space, and 
allowing two square feet to a person, there would be accomodation for 
over 800,000 people. If they were not particular about their accomoda- 
tion, and would use the thirty great staircases, each twelve feet wide, 
and the eighty-six small galleries projecting each twelve feet out from 
the main gallery around the sides and ends, and perch upon the great 
trusses of the roof, and among the braces, all of New York city's 
population, man, woman and child, could find shelter in this one main 
building. 

Our readers will not ask for any apology from us for dwelling 
thus upon this structure rather than hasten on to its contents. This 
is the feature of the Columbian Exposition which outclasses, which 
stands head, shoulders and waist above any mechanical achievement 
of any other fair. 

" Columbia Avenue," fifty feet wide, extends through the mam- 
moth building longitudinally, and an avenue of like width crosses it 
at right angles at the center. There are four great entrances, one in the 
center of each facade, admitting us directly to these main broad avenues 
or aisles running lengthwise or crosswise as just described. These 
main entrances are designed in the manner of triumphal arches, the 
central archway of each being forty feet wide and eighty feet high. 
Surmounting these portals is the great attic story ornamented with 
sculptured eagles eighteen feet high. At each corner of the building 
are pavilions forming great arched entrances, which are designed in 
harmony with the great portals. It would seem that here was suf- 
ficient room to enter and exit without the necessity of elbowing. It 
is a conservative estimate that the foresight of the architect provided 



A CITY IN ITSELF. 



487 



for the passage of over 240,000,000 persons through those portals 
during the six months of the fair. In other words, equal to an average 
of two visits by every man, woman and child in the United States. 

If we were to sleep on the downy projecting edge of one of the 
great arches, take our meals at one of the numerous restaurants which 
are scattered around the sides of the building, and put in a good 
legal eight-hour day, each day of the progress of the fair, we could 
not see and record the multitude of exhibits displayed in the main 
buildintj alone. 



y----:tr!-i!'^-fflfp|ill|f!ilip| 




SOUTH AMERICAN TYPES. 



While each state and nation, so far as they chose, erected its own 
building, these buildings were intended more as a sort of headquarters 
or meeting place for the visitors from such states or nations, rather 
than for the purpose of places to exhibit their various products. The 
exhibits from the several states and nations participating, for the most 
part were classified, and distributed among the various exhibition 
buildings so that, as we start upon a tour of the main building, or more 
properly the " Manufactures and Liberal Arts" building, we encoun- 
ter such a variety of wonders and instructive object lessons, that the 
reason of our slow progress becomes apparent. Hardly is there a 
state, colony, or country under heaven that has not a representation 
of its manufactured products here. 

We are seeing in condensed form what would require years of 
travel to see in the places from whence they have been gathered. 



405 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

The mind is unable to grasp so much and retain it in such brief space 
as we desire to allow. To a certain degree, the experience, the 
polish, the education, which are developed by extended travel and 
sight-seeing, every visitor to the World's Fair is bound to acquire. 
The visit to the Fair will be the greatest event in the lives of our 
generation. It v/ill be a large part of the practical education of most 
of the visitors. It is impossible to calculate the benefit to our gener- 
ation in the way of education, which such a fair must bring. 

GLASS. 

We quickly discover that the exhibits are arranged in a systematic 
order, being collected in comprehensive "groups," each group com- 
prising all the classes of products covered by the general group name. 
For instance, the "Glass Group" attracts our attention. We see a 
great body of glass in the rough, resembling a huge ocean billow, and 
on every side the most wonderful shapes and delicate colors in blown 
glass fabrics; then all shapes, sizes and colors of beads tastefully 
arranged for the purpose of aritstic display, and most wonderful and 
inconceivable products of cut glassware for table use, around which 
the gentler sex linger in an ecstasy of pleased surprise. Glass prod- 
ucts for building purposes hold the attention of the "men folks " who 
have to do with those more practical affairs. Plate glass in the rough, 
cast and rolled, ground and polished, common window glass, skylights, 
insulators — all are arranged so as to best display their uses. Among 
the fancy wares, iridescent, opalescent, colored, enameled, beaded, 
gilded glasses, the mosaics, the spun glass, etc., etc.; and in watching 
the wonderful, fascinating productions of the workers, from stage to 
stage of perfection, an d from shape to shape, we may lose all account 
of time, to be recalled from our absorption only by the active pangs 
of appetite. 

PAPER. 

We next turn to an object lesson in paper, from the coarse pulp 
which greatly resembles rice or almost any other kind of pudding, 
through every step of its conversion into the most delicate fabrications 
the needs and tastes of humanity dictate. There are pyramids and 
block-houses of cardboard, binders' board, building-boards, felts for 
walls and roofs, for floors, ceilings, and decorations. There are all 
kinds of peculiarly arranged displays of coarse and fine, white and 
colored wrapping papers, writing papers, bond paper, drawing paper. 



PAPER. 491 

There are wood, straw, cotton, linen, and all other kinds of paper. 
Immense rolls of paper just as run in a steady, never-ending sheet 
through the great revolving perfecting presses, the word "perfecting" 
there meaning that at the other end of the press are turned out the 
perfect newspapers, printed, cut, folded, and ready for the little gamin 
to rush off with to his favorite selling haunts. Or if printing books, 
there are the printed, folded and laid forms ready for the bindery. 
There are paper bags, from the five-cent peanut sack, circus size, up 
to flour sacks and larger. There are envelopes to suit the occasion, 
be it for the maiden's first love letter, or for carrying the samples 
of dress goods when the trousseau engages the little lady's attention 
later. There are triumphal arches, mosaic arches, houses, churches, 




ALGERIAN BARBER SHOP AND STABLE. 

Steeples, built of paper and paper products. Some of those great 
blank books would create envy in St. Peter's breast, and some of the 
valuable relics of the past in paper manufacture, old parchment books, 
and rolls of papyrus look as though they might tell us of the days 
before St. Peter began his record keeping. Paper car wheels, paper 
boards for house building, paper tubs, pails, dishes, and an endless 
number of things are here. 

But we must hurry on, for we have not yet fairly begun, and tne 
day is nearly done. There is the "group" of chemical and pharma- 
ceutical products — druggists' supplies. See the doctors, druggists 



492 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



and students in pharmacy studying the display. In this great school- 
house we are all striving to take as much of the course as possible. 
How easy to determine the natural disposition and customary occupa- 
tion of those around us by the exhibits which hold them the most 
closely interested spectators. See that endless collection of bottles, 
colored liquids, powders, soaps, perfumes, pomades, cosmetics, etc.; 
bottles of all sizes, with contents of all colors, built into surprising 
structural forms, and all the shades brought out vividly by the free use 
of electric light backgrounds. The only thing we seem to jmiss in 
this drug store display is the soda fountain, for it seems that everything 
else is there, even to what looks like the usual collection of chewing- 
gum piled over on one of the show-cases. 

THE JEWELER'S REALM. 

Arranged along in close order are the displays of gold and silver 
ware, plate, etc., jewelry and ornaments, and the watch and clock 
exhibits. If the light of many sparkling eyes could be concentrated. 




AN ORIENTAL TURNER. 



there would be no need of electricity, or even daylight, in this part of 
the building. These most delicate, costly, wonderful, beautiful crea- 
tions of the most skillful gold and silversmiths of every country, run- 
ning back through hundreds of years, cannot be easily described. 
Only the crowd and their exclamations of surprise and wonder we can 



A WONDERFUL CLOCK. 493 

carry away a clear recollection of. There are wonderful and expen- 
sive snuff-boxes, match-boxes, cane-heads, handles, chatelaines, o-old 
and silver tableware, and decorative articles. Several laro-e cases 
contain nothing else but precious stones mounted — ■ diamonds which 
sparkle, if possible, more brightly than the eyes which gaze in upon 
them. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, chrysoberyls, tourmalines, topazes, 
onyx, agates, jasper, etc. In the section devoted to watches and 
clocks, we find a most absorbing display. Every minute part, each 
so necessary, however small, to the perfect timepiece, is shown, and 
how they are made, and how they are put together. There are all 
kinds of watches and cases, and tools used in their manufacture. The 
Swiss watches are most famous, and the Swiss contribution to the dis- 
play comprises the finest and highest grades of the watches produced 
by the skilled artisans of that country. Their display is not offered 
to compete with other makes. It is simply shown to prove the supe- 
riority of the workmanship in the Swiss watches. " Grandfather's 
clock " is here in all shapes and forms. There are clocks as small as 
your thumb, and others as big as a small house. 

Let us examine only this one made by a clock-maker of Warsaw, 
who worked on it for six years. 

A WONDERFUL CLOCK. 

The clock represents a railway station, with waiting-rooms, 
telegraph and ticket-offices, platform, and a flower garden, in the 
center of which is a sparkling fountain. Past the station run the lines. 
There are also signal-boxes, signals, lights and reservoirs — in fact, 
everything that belongs to a railway station, to the smallest detail. 
In the cupola of the central tower is a clock which shows the time of 
the place ; two clocks in the side cupolas show the time at New 
York and Pekin ; and on the two outermost towers are a calendar 
and a barometer. Every quarter of an hour the station begins to show 
signs of life. First the telegraph official begins to work. He dis- 
patches a telegram stating that the line is clear. The doors open, 
and on the platform appear the station-master and his assistant ; the 
clerk is seen at the window of the ticket-office, and the pointsmen 
come out of their boxes and close the barriers. A long line of people 
forms at the ticket-office ; porters carry luggage ; the bell is rung, and 
then out of the tunnel comes a train rushing into the station, and, 
after the engine has given a shrill whistle^ stops. A workman goes 
from carriage to carriage and tests the axles with a hammer. Another 



494 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

pumps water into the boiler of the engine. After the third signal with 
the bell, the engine whistles and the train disappears into the opposite 
tunnel, the station-master and his assistant leave the platform, and the 
doors of the waiting-rooms close behind them ; the pointsmen return 
into their boxes, and perfect stillness prevails, till, in a quarter of an 
hour, the whole is repeated. 

SILK DISPLAY. 

The silk display deserves the marked attention which it attracts. 
Here is a study in life, of the production of silk from the laying of the 
moth's eggs which bring forth the silk worm, through every stage of 
the silk's evolution into the figured piece goods, woven or printed, 
upholstery silks and ribbons, in endless quantities, shades and varieties. 
There are forts, houses and obelisks, built of spool silk in all conceiv- 
able colors, and all sorts of designs are worked out in the colors, to 
resemble laid mosaic work. 

The management conceived the idea of awarding a medal for the 
most original, striking and tasteful arrangement of the various exhibits, 
and this may account in part for the evidences displayed of unusual 
design and striking effects produced on every side. 

The great bridges and arcades and towers on every hand produce 
a wonderful effect. Here are some made from bolts of cloth of every 
possible texture. There are calicoes in amazing variety of patterns, 
sheetings, shirtings, ginghams, tickings, ducks ; denims that smell of 
the pure indigo blue, linens, and every conceivable kind of cloth for 
clothing, furnishings and manufactures of every sort. There are 
carpet temples of ancient styles of architecture, made from tapestry and 
body brussels, tapestry velvet, wlltons, axminsters, moquettes, that 
you sink into almost to your eyes, and the grounds laid out " natural 
as life," with rugs of all sizes, shapes, colors and design. 

Hurrying on, we glance at the group of "Paints, Colors, Dyes 
and Varnishes," the exhibit of wood and Ivory carving, bamboo Incised 
work, metal carving and chiseling, sculpturing, carving and engraving 
in glass and porcelain. Next we are sp^H-bound by the group of 
"Furs and Fur Clothing." No matter what the result of the Behring 
Sea controversy, there has been a catch of seal for this display. There 
are spotted seal, silver seal, harp seal and saddleback, undressed, 
plucked and dyed. There is the cat tribe, here the wolf family, and 
the weasel species. 




AMD CHBY8AUS- NATURAL SIZE. 



IN THE SILK EXHIBIT. 



496 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



The group of "Laces, Embroideries, Artificial Flowers, Fans," etc., 
holds spell-bound the women folk. There are some of the most beau- 
tiful, delicate, and intricate hand-made silk, wool and mohair laces, 
woven right on the spot (while you wait), by Japanese native work- 
men. Also screens in indescribable colors and designs, all hand work, 
and to our American eyes, performed by most laborious process. There 
are silver and gold laces, wonderful embroideries, crochet and needle- 
work. There are dreams in marvelous hand-made tapestries and 
art embroidery. The display of fans is simply not to be equaled any- 
where. I do not think they produce more breeze than the palmleaf 

variety that we enjoy so 
thoroughly at circus time, but 
they possess more tone and 
hold perfume longer. 

The Leather group in the 
main building is somewhat of 
a display, but besides all we 
see here, outside there is a 
special building for the display 
of the every feature and prod- 
uct and process connected with 
the leather industry. In here 
we see valises, trunks, toilet 
cases, fancy leather work in 
endless and pleasing variety, 
strops, dress suit cases, silk 
hat cases. Outside we see 
the process of curing and 
tanning, and the heavier prod- 
ucts, the whole hides, etc. 
The Rubber group catches 
our eye next : clothing, mack- 
ANTiQUE PADLOCK. intoshes, capcs, coats, boots, 

shoes, hats, piano, table, horse and carriage covers, hose, tubes, belting, 
toys of all sorts. In fact, what not from a baby ring to a rubber boat. 
If you should care to see real live animated boyhood, hunt out 
the group on material of war. There are weapons of every sort 
for slaughter, for hunting, trapping, etc., and there, incidentally, are 
the boys. It's hard work to keep their hands off, and nothing 
short of a Catling gun amounts to anything any more, and even 




ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY. 497 

that is but a toy to them. The great Krupp guns are their size in 
future. 

We hurry by the display of heating and cooking apparatus and 
accessories, also the refrigerators, hollow metal ware, tinware and 
enameled ware, the wire goods, vaults, safes, hardware, tools, cut- 
lery. Our space will not permit of anything but a hasty glance 
among these elaborate and tasteful displays. So why attempt the 
impossible? Let us, however, look in upon the exhibit of Archaeology 
and Ethnology, on which alone several hundred thousand dollars were 
spent, because the management realized that this exhibition was to be 
largely educational in its nature and effects, and in this department 
was afforded the broadest opportunity for education. 

ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY. 

There are no collections of a scientific or. educational nature — 
devoid of practical value — which attract so much attention as those 
which fall within the limits of archaeology and ethnology, and which are 
also exhibited in the main building. Of course the material for the 
series has been drawn from all the countries of the world, but especial 
attention has been given to the display of the American riches in these 
departments. 

Although it was manifestly impossible to arrange the archaeological 
exhibits upon a strictly historical basis, still the general order of pro- 
gress was, first to visit the weird collections, or models of mounds 
found in nearly all the States east of the Mississippi River, from Wis- 
consin to Florida, and in some of those of the Southwest. In form 
these represent birds, tigers, turtles, eagles, elephants, serpents, deer, 
panthers, buffaloes, and human beings. Wisconsin and Ohio are par- 
ticularly favored in this regard. Not only are there scores of models 
of these evidences of prehistoric man, but transverse sections of them 
are shown to illustrate the strata of earth and the position of such 
articles dug from them, as carved stone pipes, arrow heads, jasper 
ornaments, and stones which are not known to exist in North America. 

An interesting group is that of the implements of chipped stone 
made by the ancient natives of the Mississippi Valley, who were evi- 
dently the most cultivated of the primitive populations of America, and 
were agriculturists, weavers, and skillful potters aud workers in metal, 
yet used flint implements exactly similar to those of ruder tribes. 

The iron, bronze, and stone ages are all represented by innumerable 
articles, such as arrow heads, hatchets, chisels, spear heads, and stone 



498 THE world's fair. 

pestles, specimens of carved wood, shell, bone, pottery, spherical-shaped 
pots, and water vessels. 

The collection from Peru is interesting chiefly as showing the 
mechanical and artistic skill attained by the unknown race of men who 
inhabited that portion of the American continent before the advent of 
the Incas. The idols and domestic utensils included in this collection 
are composed of different materials, some being pottery and others 
rudely carved out of stone. Most of these objects were exhumed from 
graves, whence they bring us the only knowledge we possess of the 
civilization and customs of a people concerning whose origin and 
history not even the trace of a tradition is left. 

The specimens of ancient Mexican pottery are quite numerous, and 
the visitor will be surprised to note among the ornamental devices 
thereon the many Greek patterns, such as the fret or herring bone, 
annulets, checkered bands, meander or walls of Troy, the scroll, ivy 
leaf and Maltese cross. Indeed, the collections from the old world and 
the new show that the handiwork of the red man, from Terra del Fuego 
to Baffin's Bay, is of similar character to that of prehistoric man in 
Europe and Asia, and they speak eloquently of a wide range of similar 
wants and habits leading to similar contrivances. 

A grander feature, however, of this arch^ological departrtient of the 
collection than the skillful arrangement of axes, spears, clubs, bows, 
vases and other implements and utensils, is the models and photographs 
of the vast pyramidal structures of Mexico, Central and South America, 
with the more gorgeous and finished temples of a later day, all 
showing the processes of architectural development in America. 

A collection which particularly touches the historic side of the 
Exposition is that sent from the Lesser Antilles, of the West Indies. 
It consisted of charms, stone collars supposed to have been worn by 
prisoners of war, picture writings upon rocks, settees made of native 
wood, and other articles used by the Indians with Avhom Columbus came 
in contact and some of which are described by writers of his time. 

The foreign contributions while not very numerous are undeniably 
unique and interesting. There are specimens of ancient writings on 
papyrus, vellum and parchment ; several specimens of the forms of 
writing which distinguish the different ages of Greek manuscripts ; 
examples of the three orders of Greek architecture ; the different epochs 
of Greek ceramic art, as illustrated by beautiful vases ; painted vases 
from old Greek cemeteries and ancient bronzes and casts, as well as an 
interesting collection from Pompeii. 



LIBERAL ARTS. 50I 

LIBERAL ARTS. 

I have spoken several times of thie Exposition being educational 
in its nature and effects. We are trying- to assimilate a four-years' 
college course and ten years of travel and sight-seeing all in the few- 
days allotted to visit the Fair. No wonder we are easily fatigued. It's 
worse than plowing or harrowing all day. At that we only tire our 
legs. In this educational work of viewing and digesting the lessons 
laid before us at the Fair, our mental powers are taxed as well as our 
physical. Therefore, it is no wonder the refreshment booths are gen- 
erously patronized. Let us rest and refresh ourselves a bit, and take 
account of our progress. This is the Manufactures and Liberal Arts 
Building. We have mentioned a few of the manufactures, now let us 
draw the distinction between manufactures and the displays which 
constitute liberal arts, so that there may be no misapprehension. This 
is more easily accomplished by naming some of the classifications of 
the exhibits by way of illustration, than by long, intricate definitions. 
There is displayed in one class the methods for all physical develop- 
ment, from the nursery to the most difficult gymnastic feats. Then,, 
alongside, are shown the methods for the preservation of health by 
proper preparation of foods, approved appliances and methods for ven- 
tilation, sanitation, heating, etc.; apparatus for receiving and treating 
sewage ; methods, instruments and materials for purifying and destroy- 
ing germs. There are shown the methods of the arrangement of asy- 
lums, homes for aged persons, for maimed and deformed, for soldiers 
and sailors, and alms-houses. Also the treatment and discipline of 
inmates ; the conduct of affairs at Indian reservations. There are 
plans and models and the systems for the conduct of hospitals and. 
dispensaries. 

All these institutions we pay our taxes to support, but how little 
we know of their operation is shown by the interest these displays. 
attract. Whenever we read about them in our newspapers it is a dry- 
statistical report of what they have accomplished, or an announcement; 
that a contribution is desired. But here we are brought face to face. 
with them in a manner that possesses real downright interest. 

EDUCATION. 

Here too, we are made to appreciate the methods of education 
of all classes, and in all branches, without the help-of the birch switch. 
Beginning with kindergartens for the babies, we move on step by 
step through every grade, and note the different arrangements for 




SCANDINAVIAN COSTUMES. 
502 



EDUCATION. 



503 



comfort and convenience, and appliances for quickest and easiest 
development, best suited to every branch of the work, and condition 
of the community. The models and apparatus for domestic and 
manual training for girls draws the attention of the female visitors, 
while the apparatus for trade teaching proves a still greater attraction 
and study for males. We note, too, all the display relating to science 
teaching, art teaching, technical school, education for defective classes, 
and professional branches. These, however, attract mostly in pro- 
portion to the individual acquaintance with, and taste for some par- 
ticular branch or profession. We cannot become lawyers or doctors or 
dentists or civil engineers by a study of these model displays, but 
each visitor of any profession has taken away new ideas, and been 
benefited by his visit, we venture to say, as much as he would have 
benefited by a thorough post graduate course covering a year's, time. 
A little further along and we find a completely equipped business col- 
lege, teaching every branch of business encountered in daily life. 
This exhibit has unusual interest for the foreign visitors, as nothing of 
the kind is seen anywhere outside of America. 

It is impossible to enumerate in a book of this size, ever so briefly, 
the many wonderful and interesting displays which come under 
"Liberal Arts." We study the advance in literature and style of 
topography. Measuring and weighing instruments, astronomical, sur- 
veying, electric, and many other scientific instruments. In the class 
of civil engineering, public work and constructive architecture, we see 
many things to create anew our wonder. The methods by which the 
great mechanical achievements of the world have been accomplished, 
are laid bare, great bridges, cantilever and suspension, wonderful 
towers, aqueducts, tunnels. The great steel and iron arches overhead 
are a silent witness that these plans and models which form such an 
interesting study, represent actual achievements in engineering. 

Another exhibit to hold admiring attention was that which illus- 
trated the development of music and the drama. I must admit that 
more attention was paid to the display of the musical instruments than 
to the history of their development. Nothing you can conceive is 
omitted, from a South Sea tom-tom to a monster pipe organ. 

CRIME AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 

'Manufactures and Liberal Arts" contemplates so much that not- 
withstanding the mammoth size of the building, some of its classifica- 
tions have been housed in separate structures outside by themselves. 



504 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 




THE REVOLVING PRISON. 



where the collection was large and important enough to warrant. Let 
us step out on this side of the building and visit the exhibit belonging 
to the classfication of "Liberal Arts," that is arranged to cover, we 
may say, the art of punishment. 

Few devices which represent the inventive genius of man, whether 
their purpose be to bring joy to the righteous or strike terror to the 

soul of the erring, have failed of exploit- 
ation at the World's Fair. But without 
doubt, it may be said that the most 
gruesome to be seen is this exhibit under 
direction of the National Prison Associ- 
ation, and opened under the auspices of 
that organization by ex-President Hayes. 
The exhibit is a comprehensive expose 
of the devices and methods employed 
for inflicting punishment from the begin- 
ning of history to the present time, and show the progress which 
humanity has made in the quality of mercy. A special building is used 
for the exhibit, and in it is arranged 
cells of every description, many of 
them reproductions of places which 
have detained persons famous in his- 
tory. The cells of the Mamertine 
prison, where St. Paul was confined, 
the dungeons of the Inquisition, the 
tombs of the Bastile, and the torture 
chambers of Oriental barbarism, are 
all pictured with an unpleasant reality. 
The Nuremburg collection embraces 
a wonderful array of old-time instru- 
ments of torture. The revolving pri- 
son is a wooden device, and it is 
claimed for it that it absolutely pro- 
tects prison officers from danger of 
assault by the inmates while as surely 
preventing the remotest possibility of 
escape. Ten cells are formed in a circular prison, somewhat as if they 
were slices cut symmetrically from a cheese. The dividing walls 
and the floors are of iron. The outside wall is built around the 
whole affair. Within it the circular cellular contrivance revolves 




CRIME AND ITS PUNISHMENTS. 



505 



slowly, the idea being that no convict can work for any length of time 
on any one part of the Avail which divides him from liberty. The 
revolution goes on only at night, and is so slow as to cause no dis- 
comfort, it is claimed. There is a mechanism by which the jailer can 
turn the cells around when he wishes to release or in carcerate a 
prisoner. 

There is a very interesting collection of pictures dealing with 
methods of punishment in Chinese prisons. They show some methods 
of tying up the offenders which are original and remarkable. 

It is hard to realize that such devilish devices for inflicting torture 
were ever used. When Rome ruled the known world and led the 

nations in the matters of art, science 
and civilization, she at the same time 
possessed the Inquisition. And in this 
display are shown not only the dun- 
geons, but the implements with which 
the victims, of whose martyrdom we 
have all read so much, were made 
to suffer such horrible tortures ; the 
head-vise, thumb-screw, barbed racks, 
revolving racks, joint and breakers ; 
representations of the tongue cutting, 
eye gouging, burning out the eyes, cut- 
ting off the eyelids, and other devices 
for torture. There are the head 
cleavers of the far East, the head 
smashing process, the guillotine of 
France, the broad beheading ax of 
England in the olden times, the rope 
and electric chair. All the different 
methods of inflicting capital punish- 
ment are illustrated, and the many methods of inflicting less severe 
punishment, as the head and ankle stocks, the slave lashes, cat-o'-nine 
tails, ducking chair, etc. 

There is a weird fascination in studying history from such teachers. 
There is a pleasanter side to this unique exhibit in a contemplation of 
the humane treatment accorded prisoners in the penitentiaries of the 
present time ; also the milder forms of restraining and punishing and 
helping the classes of younger and less hardened persons in reforma- 
tories. The systems for managing these different institutions of 




CHINESE DEVICES FOR INFLICT- 
ING PUNISHMENT. 



5o6 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



restraint are all clearly illustrated. The system of keeping track of 
professional criminals by means of photography and measurements of 
the head, the methods of manacling prisoners for conveyance long 
distances, for work in gangs, and for close and solitary confinement — 
all these and many more interesting bits of instruction on matters acces- 
sory to the handling of criminal classes and the prevention of crime, 
are gleaned in the visit to this portion of the Liberal Arts exhibit. 




RELICS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

We think the distinction between "manufactures" and 
arts" has been drawn sufficiently clear for the 



•liberal 



as we 
never- 



reader, and 
return to the main building and resume our sight-seeing with 
waning interest, we conclude that this mammoth unprecedented exhi- 
bition of building and contents, whether the latter be classed as manu- 
factures or liberal arts, may as a grand whole be classed as a great 
far-reaching object-lesson school-house, pointing to the goal of a higher 
and a grander civilization, even unto that perfection which would satisfy 
the great Teacher of all mankind. 



THE WORLDS FAIR CONGRESS AUXILIARY. 507 

THE WORLD'S FAIR CONGRESS AUXILIARY 

As the educational idea has been uppermost in all plans for the 
Fair, and its immense value to our nation as an educating- medium, in 
all lines of activity, has been held up whenever the wisdom of such a 
vast expenditure of money has been called in question, the Fair 
management have striven in every way to bring out this result in all 
their plans. 

Realizing that the results of a wide field of human knowledge 
and activity cannot be adequately shown in any tangible way, they 
resolved to supply this evident lack by bringing together in great 
conventions, or Congresses, the leaders of the world's thought in all 
its various lines. To accomplish this, the World's Fair Congress 
Auxiliary was organized, and is acknowledged as one of the great 
departments of the Exposition. 

The object sought by the Auxiliary is fitly characterized in its 
motto, " Not Things, but Men," and can be best expressed in the 
words of its president, Mr. C. C. Bonney : 

" To promote the holding of appropriate conventions during the World's Columbian Exposition 
of 1893, for the consideration of the living questions in all the departments of human progress; and in 
addition thereto a Union Congress for each department, under the direction of the Auxiliary, in which 
the important results accomplished will be set forth by the most eminent representatives who can attend, 
thus securing freedom and independence of separate organizations, and union and harmony in presenting 
to the world the higher achievements of mankind ; while the people who will come to the Exposition may 
enjoy the privilege of seeing and hearing many of the distinguished leaders with whose names they have 
become familiar. The Auxiliary has no jurisdiction over any exhibit of material things, but will deal exclu- 
sively with conventions of persons and their proceedings, with the aim of promoting, by fraternal action, 
the progress, prosperity, unity, peace and happiness of the world. It is hoped that the Congresses will 
result in a series of permanent world-wide fraternities of very great practical value. 

The controlling purpose of the Auxihary will be to bring all of the departments of progress into har- 
monious relation with each other, to the end that the utmost attainable completeness and unity may characterize 
the World's Congresses of 1893, without materially impairing the distinctive characteristics of the various 
contributions to the marvelous progress of the nineteenth century. Differing religious denominations, tem- 
perance societies, schools of medicine, and other organizations will work in harmony to secure a result in 
which all are alike interested, and to obtain which the Auxiliary will endeavor to exercise the highest impar- 
tiahty and justice. It will aim to secure a presentation of the best aspect of every sincere and commendable 
effort to attain a result beneficial to mankind, leaving the comparative merits of competing institutions to 
the judgment of the enlightened world." 

To show the extent of the field covered by the Congress Auxil- 
iary, the list of the departments into which the work is divided is given. 

I. Agriculture. II. Art. III. Commerce and Finance. IV. Educa- 
tion. V. Engineering. VI. Government. VII. Literature. VIII. 
Labor. IX. Medicine. X. Moral and Social Reform. XI. Music. 
XII. The PubHc Press. XIII. Religion. XIV. Science and Philoso- 
phy. XV. Temperance. XVI. General Department. 



5o8 THE world's fair. 

Each of these departments is again subdivided into General 
Divisions to represent each special branch of knowledge under the 
general subject. The general divisions of the Department of Labor 
will serve to illustrate the whole : 

I. Historic Development of Labor. 2. Labor Organizations. 
3. Conflicts of Labor and Capital. 4. Labor Economics and Legis- 
lation. 5. Women : Her Industrial Condition and Economic Depend- 
ence ; Social Theories and Experiments ; Child Labor, etc. 6. 
Education, Public Opinion, Progress. 

Each general division is under a special committee, at whose head 
is a recognized leader in that particular line. The entire series of 
World's Congresses are held under the charge of the World's Con- 
gress Auxiliary, in the Permanent Memorial Art Palace, erected on 
the shore of Lake Michigan, near the heart of Chicago. This World's 
Congress Art Palace is occupied exclusively by such Congresses dur- 
ing the whole of the Exposition season. So important was the series 
of World's Congresses deemed by the Directory of the Exposition, 
that, to provide suitable places of meeting, they entered into a con- 
tract with the Art Institute of Chicago to contribute two hundred 
thousand dollars for the erection of this Art Palace, the total cost of 
which is more than six hundred thousand dollars. It is one of the 
most beautiful buildings in America. It contains two large audience 
rooms, calculated to accommodate from three thousand to thirty-five 
hundred persons each. In addition to these large halls there are 
thirty smaller rooms, calculated to accommodate from three hundred 
to seven hundred persons each. These smaller rooms are for meet- 
ings of the Divisions, Chapters, Sections and Committees of the Con- 
gresses. Thus, many Congresses of a Department may be in simul- 
taneous session. 

In addition to the Art Palace, the Great Auditorium, in the 
immediate vicinity, is used when a still larger audience room is 
necessary. These places of meeting are provided by the Directory 
of the World's Columbian Exposition and the Directors of the Art 
Institute of Chicago, for the use of the various World's Congresses, 
without expense to the participants therein. 



AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 



The United States is pre-eminently an agricultural country. Great 
beyond conception are our manufactures. Our mines are not exceeded 
in extent and richness by any country in the world, and our commerce 
is stupendous. But in comparison with our agricultural resources all 
else must take a back seat. In an American Exposition, therefore, 
Agriculture must hold an all important place, and where else on the 
face of the earth can it have such a showing as at Chicago, which 
owes its greatness, and indeed, its very existence, to the great farms 
of the Mississippi Valley, with its millions of fertile acres stretching for 
thousands of miles in all directions. 

No single building on the grounds can compete for a moment with 
the monstrous home of Manufactures and Liberal Arts, and at first 
thought Agriculture seems to have been assigned a secondary place. 
It is only when we perceive that the field is too vast for any one build- 
ing to represent it, and turn first to the great main Agricultural Hall ; 
then to the Horticultural Palace, in itself i,ooo feet long ; then to the 
Forestry Building, 200x500 feet; the Dairy Building, 95x200 feet, and 
lastly in weariness cast our eyes over the vast stock-pens covering 
forty acres, that we realize what the Fair management has done for 
Agriculture and its branches. 

The Agricultural Building itself covers, with its annexes, nearly 
thirteen acres, and is one of the finest on the grounds. It stands on the 
lake shore south of the main lagoon, and facing, as it does, the Manu- 
factures Building, holds an equally prominent place with it. Its cost 
was nearly $1,000,000. 

The subjects covered by the classification for this department 
embrace natural and prepared products, mineral waters, natural and 
artificial ; machinery, tools, processes and appliances ; farms and farm 
buildings ; literature and statistics of agriculture and miscellaneous 
animal products. It will thus be seen that the classification covers 
the entire range of farm products, as well as the implements and 
machines necessary to produce and put them in marketable condition. 

A visitor to intelligently study the agricultural exhibit should 
have in mind the extensive display of the Department of Agriculture 

511 



512 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

in the United States Government Building-. The object here, as else- 
where in the Exposition, has been not alone to make a big show, but 
to display something worth seeing and to teach something by it. If 
the thought of instruction is lost sight of, all the millions spent on the 
Fair have been literally thrown away. Every farmer visiting this 
department should come with the idea not of seeing a bigger pumpkin 
or fatter hog than any at his county fair, but to learn something that 
will make his crops better next year than they were last, or to decide 
whether he cannot more profitably raise hemp or tobacco where he has 
been for years planting wheat or cotton. The big pumpkins are all 
here in endless profusion and of a size that makes the ordinary mortal 
doubt the testimony of his own senses. Corn is seen that evidently 
started in to equal the California big trees in height, and did not stop 
growing until it was well along on the way on which it started. Da- 
kota has sent wheat that makes the ordinary tall stalk hide its head for 
shame. With each sample of grain is a sample of the earth it grew in, 
and a full statement of the conditions under which it was raised. Our 
farmer friend can thus determine for himself whether his farm can pro- 
duce like crops, and if so, how he must start out to accomplish it. 

The exhibit of cereals, grasses and forage plants has been col- 
lected in the several States, under the auspices of the local Exposition 
Boards, and is shown in the spaces on the first floor of the building 
allotted to the States and Territories. One State, as well as one 
locality, can thus be compared with another. 

If one is something of an epicure he may linger awhile over this 
exhibit by the government of the two hundred varieties of edible 
mushrooms that grow in this country. Most of us would pass them 
by as common toadstools and have a chill at the very thought of eat- 
ing them. But here each one is shown by an accurate cast, and we 
realize that an important article of food has been growing all about us 
of which we have been in entire ignorance. 

But perhaps mushrooms have no charm for you. If not, then 
pass up these stairs into the gallery, and linger as long as you please 
in the midst of the display of honey. The wonderful cells made by 
the "busy little bee" are not more neat and orderly than these tables 
piled with the delicious product in all forms, each several sample 
surely worthy of first prize. Near by are the hives and all the most 
improved appliances for handling the patient workers, and ample facil- 
ities for studying their habits. 




AMONG THE STOCK. 



514 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



A little further along we are interested in an exhibit from the 
State of Washington. We find here a complete model Washington 
farm in miniature. Here are the farmhouses, barns, fences and fields 
of growing grain. Here also fields of summer fallow with tiny gang 
plows in the furrows. Threshers, binders, and all other farm 
machinery are shown in miniature just as they appear while in use in 
the far-away West. 

As we pass through the building, we find that the United States 
by no means monopolizes the space. Magnificent wheat from the 




WILLIAM L BUCHANAN, 

Chief of Agricultural Bureau. 

Valley of the Nile, the hot plains of India, and the vast steppes of 
Russia, competes here with the Dakota farmer for first prize, just as 
it meets his product in the markets of Western Europe. All nations 
are here, and we find that others know something about farming as 
well as we. 

The different processes for converting corn into food, and 
the vast number of ways in which it can be used for man and beast, 



THE DAIRY. 515 

are very fully shown, including- the various ways of cooking it, so as 
to enlarge our market in Europe for this g-reatest of our products. 

Space forbids me even enumerating the vast list of farm products 
all of which find place in the various sections according to their 
locality and season. We can tarry for hours among the machines of 
all kinds for facilitating farm work, comparing those of different 
countries and ages. All are shown, from the crooked stick with which 
Adam scratched the ground outside of Eden to the modern steam 
gang plow and self-binding harvester. 

We can but pass through the chemistry division, where a vast 
work, making analyses, is constantly carried on by chemists detailed for 
that purpose to illustrate the test currently made in regard to the 
adulteration of foods, the saccharine value of beets and other sugar- 
producing plants, the composition of soils, etc. This laboratory is 
said to be the most complete of its kind in existence. This portion 
of the exhibit is supplemented by samples of adulterated foods and 
other products which have been subiected to analysis in the division. 

THE DAIRY. 

Let us hasten on to the Dairy Building. This, by reason of the 
exceptionally novel and interesting exhibits it contains, is regarded 
with great favor by World's Fair visitors in general, while by agri- 
culturists it is considered one of the most useful and attractive features 
of the whole Exposition. It is designed to contain not only a com- 
plete exhibit of dairy products, but also a Dairy School, in connection 
with which is conducted a series of tests for determining the relative 
merits of different breeds of dairy cattle as milk and butter producers. 

The building stands near the lake shore in the southeastern part 
of the park, and close by the general live stock -exhibit. It covers 
approximately half an acre, measuring 95x200 feet, is two stories high 
and cost $30,000. In design it is of quiet exterior. On the first 
floor, besides office headquarters, there is in front a large open space 
devoted to exhibits of butter, and farther back an operating room 
25x100 feet, in which the Model Dairy is conducted. On two sides 
of this room are amphitheatre seats capable of accommodating 400 
spectators. Under these seats are refrigerators and cold storage rooms 
for the care of the dairy products. The operating-room, which extends 
to the roof, has on three sides a gallery where the cheese exhibits are 
placed. The rest of the second story is devoted to a cafe, which 
opens on a balcony overlooking the lake. 



5i6 THE world's fair. 

The Dairy School, it is beHeved, will be most instructive and val- 
uable to agriculturists. 

Its plan was first proposed by the Columbian Dairy Association, 
an organization formed with the express purpose of insuring the success 
of the dairy exhibit at the Fair, and has been widely approved by dairy 
associations throughout the country. The school includes a contest 
between both herds and individuals of the chief breeds of dairy cattle, 
with a view of ascertaining the respective merits of each in milk-giving 
and butter-producing. Each herd is charged each day with the food 
consumed, accurately weighed, and is credited with the milk and but- 
ter produced. Manufacturers of dairy utensils and appliances gladly 
furnish all that is required in their line. Spectators are able to obtain 
an excellent view of the processes in all their stages. The tests and 
all details of management are under rules prepared by a committee 
composed of one member from each of the dairy cattle associations in 
the United States, three from the Columbian Dairy Association, three 
froni the agricultural colleges and U. S. Experimental Stations, and 
one from the manufacturers of dairy utensils. Each participating herd 
is represented by the same number of cows. The results of this test 
and of the exhibition made of the latest and most advanced scientific 
methods known in connection with the feeding and care of cattle, the 
treatment of milk and the production of butter and cheese, cannot fail 
to be of great and lasting benefit to the dairy interests of this country. 
These interests, it is scarcely necessary to state, are of enormous 
importance and extent, and, indeed, are scarcely surpassed by any 
other branch of industry in respect to the amount of money invested. 
It cannot be doubted that the Exposition Dairy School will cause a 
more economic and scientific management of the dairy interests of the 
entire country and consequently a greater return from the capital and 
labor invested. 

FORESTRY. 

Near the Dairy is the Forestry Building. This is in appearance 
the mOst unique of all the Exposition structures. Its dimensions are 
200 by 500 feet. To a remarkable degree its architecture is of the 
rustic order. On all four sides of the building is a veranda, support- 
ing the roof of which is a colonnade consisting of a series of columns 
composed of three tree-trunks each twenty-five feet in length, one of 
them from sixteen to twenty inches in diameter and the others smaller. 
All of these trunks are left in their natural state, with bark undis- 



THE LIVE STOCK EXHIBIT. 517 

turbed. They are contributed by the different States and Territories 
of the Union and by foreign countries, each furnishing specimens of 
its most characteristic trees. The sides of the building are con- 
structed of slabs with the bark removed. The window frames are 
treated in the same rustic manner as is the rest of the building. The 
main entrances are elaborately finished in different kinds of wood, the 
material and workmanship being contributed by several prominent 
lumber associations. The roof is thatched with tan and other barks. 
The visitor can make no mistake as to the kinds of tree-trunks which 
form the colonnade, for he will see upon each a tablet upon which is 
inscribed the common and scientific name, the State or country from 
which the trunk was contributed, and other pertinent information, such 
as the approximate quantity of such timber in the region whence it 
came. Surmounting the cornice of the veranda and extending all 
around the building are numerous flag-staffs bearing the colors, coats 
of arms, etc., of the nations and States represented in the exhibits 
inside. 

No subject connected with our national resources and wealth has 
been more discussed of late years than our vast forests, their preser- 
vation and the effect they have on our climate, our great rivers and 
their floods, etc., etc. These questions grow in interest each year. 
This building is intended to gather together everything that will throw 
light and interest on this vast subject. Nothing that pertains to for- 
ests and their contents is lacking. The subject includes use and treat- 
ment of woods of all kinds and samples from all over the globe. Near 
by is a fully equipped saw mill in operation. 

THE LIVE STOCK EXHIBIT. 

On entering the Live Stock Department the visitor is greeted by 
sounds as well as sights, for borne on the air come the shrill, defiant 
neighs of a long line of stallions, the more plaintive whinny- 
ing of mares alarmed for their foals, the bleating of sheep, the squeaks 
of the porkers unkindly disturbed in their perpetfial slumbering, and 
that speech of cattle which we call lowing. 

Cattle always attract a crowd of visitors, and so we find assem- 
bled around the pens breeders and butchers, farmers and merchants, 
poets and painters, lawyers and doctors, military men and men of 
leisure, ladies of wealth and fashion, servants and factory girls, and 
" kids " innumerable, all eagerly viewing the cattle of long pedigrees and 
high values, as well as the peasants of the race, only noted for vague 



5i8 THE world's fair, 

ancestry and slight intrinsic merits. There is a large exhibit of bovine 
matter as well as of beef and dairy cattle, and many specimens of 
crosses with buffalos, etc. The classes include Short Horns, Here- 
fords, Devons, Long Horns, Durham, Alderney, Sussex, Welsh and 
Scotch Horns. The favorites seem to be the short horns, which are 
noted for gentleness, and are fine in face, smooth of horn, small 
in bone, broad of back, velvety in coat, and placid in disposition. The 
Channel Island cattle, commonly known as the Alderney, but the best 
of which come from Jersey and Guernsey, are in numerous force and 
of excellent quahty, as well as of high value. The Sussex cattle 
are very like the Devons, but possess a larger frame, and when fatted 
are of heavier weights than the former breed, but the objectionable 
feature in cattle of this breed is that the cows yield their milk spar- 
ingly. They are, however, handsome animals, and very amusing and 
playful. They seem to know that they are on exhibition, and that 
the crowd is there to admire them. 

THE HORSE. 

The exhibit of horses has proved one of the most attractive 
features, and the number of animals presented for view far excels the 
most sanguine anticipations, and the arrangement of sheds, drainage 
arrangements, care of the animals and facilities for seeing are excel- 
lent. It would be an impossible undertaking to give a description of 
even the most noted animals which are here, but every class is repre- 
sented — thoroughbreds, trotters, hunters, saddle horses, draft horses,, 
coach horses, and educated trick animals. There is likewise a large 
number of ponies, and many mules and asses. 

The Canadian exhibit is remarkably fine, but is only Canadian ia 
respect to ownership, as nearly all are indirect importations from Eng- 
land or Scotland, or the immediate progeny of imported stock. 

Among the curiosities is a beautiful Arabian horse; he is grayish 
white in color, very gracefully formed, and has an eye as gentle as a 
fawn. In striking contrast to this amiable son of the desert is a little 
wicked-looking black French stallion of Percheron breed, who shakes 
his long forelock out of his eyes, and flourishes a tail of astonishing 
size. Another contrast of a different sort is seen in the stall where 
ponderous draft horses stand, and these huge animals come of a 
race that is as docile as it is strong. An important advantage gained 
by this exhibit is, it puts every breeder on his mettle to improve his 



HORTICULTURAL BUILDING. 521 

breed of animals, and if this purpose is consummated it may be safely- 
asserted that in this department the Fair is a perfect success. 

There is an excellent exhibit of sheep, including specimens of those 
famous breeds, Leicester and South Downs, Long Wool sheep and 
Mountain sheep. It is difficult to awaken compassion or enlist sym- 
pathy for the sorrows of a pig, yet the animal is urbane, friendly and 
affectionate, capable of learning tricks and executing wonders with 
cards, and if he is greedy it ought to be remembered that he is solicited 
to eat by every one in the crowd. The porcine element is strong ia 
this section of the Fair, and next to the horses and cattle attracts the 
largest congregation, most of whom, however, view their pigships with 
an eye to the flavor of broiled ham or succulent pork steaks. 

The fact that a large sum has been given as cash prizes has been, 
a great factor in the success of this department, and in the future will 
be attended with results beneficial to the farmer and breeder, as well, 
as to the country at large. 

In addition to farming stock there is an exceedingly interesting 
display of dogs of all breeds, cats, ferrets, rabbits, poultry, pigeons,, 
and various animals usually seen in zoological collections, which is toj 
the usual sight-seer highly attractive. 

HORTICULTURAL BUILDING. 

As we enter this home of fruits and flowers, the first thing we see 
under the huge central dome is 4 miniature mountain, seventy feet high, 
upon which grow giant tree-ferns and palms and other vegetation,, 
finding there a congenial home. A mountain stream dashes from one 
declivity to another, and plays hide-and-seek with the foliage. Beneath 
this rock-mountain is a cave, eighty feet in diameter and sixty feet 
high, brilliantly lighted by electricity, where, during the whole six. 
months of the Exposition the experiment will be tried whether plants, 
will grow under electric light as well as under sunlight. Chief Thorpe,, 
of the Floriculture Division, originated the plan. 

The great dome is 187 feet in diameter and 132 feet high, and is 
built entirely of iron and glass. The exhibiting space within the walls 
of the Horticultural Building is greater by many thousand feet than 
the combined floor areas of the buildings used for a similar purpose 
at the now famous expositions held at Philadelphia, New Orleans and 
Paris. 

On all sides we see orange and other tropical fruit trees in full 



522 THE WORLDS FAIR. 

bearing, while among the plants most beautiful effects are produced 
by the use of electric lights in countless numbers. 

A loo-year-old bearing orange tree, from San Gabriel, is one of 
the exhibits from California. 

One of the most interesting portions of the Department's exhibit is 
the models of plants illustrating the attacks of the various insects and 
diseases which destroy them. To make these models, which have to be 
absolutely true to nature, two English artists of marvelous ability were 
engaged. They are brother and sister, and in this work far excel 
any others, having taken medals for their work at the World's Fair 
held at London in 1851 and at frequent intervals since. The models 
of fruits are made of wax, and such remarkable skill has been exercised 
in the manufacture that it is only by the closest scrutiny that they are 
to be told from the real article. 

All forms of aquatic plant life are shown ; and the display of 
orchids is said to be the most complete ever brought together. Special 
displays of fruit and cut flowers are held at frequent intervals during 
the season. 

The department has had assigned to it on the grounds, outside of 
the building, about twenty-five acres, including all the space available 
for horticultural purposes on the wooded island which is situated in the 
center of the grounds and around which are grouped all the great 
buildings. This space has been devoted to an immense rose garden, 
bushes having been sent from all over the world, some of which were 
received a full year before the Fair opened and have been carefully 
cultivated ever since. One firm in Belfast, Ireland, sent 1,500 rose 
plants, and a German firm 800 more. 

Twenty thousand square feet of ground has been set apart for a 
competitive test of flower seeds, the chief of the department personally 
supervising the planting of the seeds. 

Even the roof of this flowery paradise has not been neglected, for 
around the central dome an elaborate display of roof-gardening has 
been made. It is expected that this will not only be pleasurable to 
visitors, but will afford valuable suggestions that will be utilized by 
persons who live in large cities and are deprived of dooryards and 
lawns. 

After the fatigue of sight-seeing in the other buildings, the tired 
visitor will find rest for body and mind in one of the quiet nooks of 
this Garden of Eden, with plashing fountains and fragrant flowers on 
all sides. 




^ii ,1' WW 'if:'' 



MACHINERY HALL AND TRANSPORTATION 
BUILDING. 



The classification which at all previous World's Fairs has come 
entirely under the head of "Machinery" is here divided, and for the 
first time in the history of fairs it was decided to give the science of 
Transportation, in its broadest meaning, that attention to which its 
importance entitles it. Therefore, in order to see all in these two lines of 
display, we have to visit two different buildings. Either display, how- 
ever, taken by itself, overshadows any previous exhibition of its 
nature. We are always prepared for a monster show when it comes 
to machinery, so that we withstand the temptation to declare as we 
visit each preceding building, that we have reached the climax of won- 
ders. Machinery Hall measures 850 feet in length by 500 in width. 
This is simply the main structure. It is located just south of the 
Administration Building and the great court where the transporta- 
tion companies deposit their passengers, and is directly west, across 
the lagoon, from the Agricultural Building. To the west of the main 
Machinery Building is a great annex, covering a space of the same 
width as the main hall, and extending 550 feet. Then to the south 
side of the main hall is a grand power house 100 feet wide by 460 feet 
long. Thus the machinery display occupies a ground space of about 
eighteen acres. 

The building is spanned by three series of great arched trusses, 
and the interior presents the appearance of three high railroad train- 
houses, side by side, surrounded on all the four sides by a gallery 
fifty feet wide. As the same three arches continue rightdown through 
the annex, the naves are 1,400 feet in length, almost a third of a mile, 
making one think, as he stands at one end of the long aisle, of what 
he sees by looking in the big end of a telescope or an opera glass. 
We walk the entire length of the aisles, then all around the gallery, 
and at every step find something of a character to awaken renewed 
wonder. 

There are tall wind pumps for the Western farm, huge hydraulic 
cotton presses for the South, and massive steam hammers for the 

525 



526 THE world's fair. 

foundries of the North and East. We study the manufacture of silks, 
cottons, woolens, rope and India rubber goods. Then the process of 
paper-making, from the grinding of the rags, or the crushing of 
wood, through to the production of finest enameled stock. 

SETTING TYPE BY MACHINERY. 

While speaking of the machinery for making paper, I am reminded 
that is, a type-setting machine, and that carries me on to the of another 
display of printing presses and paper folding machines. This machine 
for type-setting is something remarkable. It does all but speak ; it 
reasons with its operator. It does the entire work of composition, 
setting ordinary movable type with far greater speed, accuracy and 
artistic effect than has ever before been accomplished by any method. 
The machine automatically distributes and at the same time sets the 
type indicated by the operator, automatically spaces and justifies the 
matter without mental effort on the part of the operator, places it in a 
galley ready for book or newspaper as desired, records the number of 
lines set, and "leads " the matter as required. All of this is accomplished 
by positive mechanism, and surely this is one of the most wonderful 
inventions of the century. We follow the type matter through the 
electrotyping process, which is very interesting, giving us a reproduc- 
tion of the type in a cylindrical state. This plate is used to print the great 
daily paper from, and the type itself never goes onto the press as in for- 
mer times. Each of the plates is a page of the paper, and is fastened 
to the cylinders of these great intricate machines. What we see is a 
great roll of paper at one end of the press, weighing a quarter of a ton 
nearly, unrolling itself at a wonderful velocity to supply the capacity of 
the monster. Stepping to the other end we seethe paper issue from the 
impression of the last cylinder, move forward upon a sort of table, sev- 
eral arms descend in different directions, one after another, and from 
a little box at the side we pick up our paper, printed, cut and folded 
ready for the newsboy. Some of these machines turn out papers 
printed in colors. These are for use where special illustration is 
desired. Right alongside, in order to show the progress made, are 
models from the day of the first hand presses, which worked a good 
deal like the hand letter-copying press of to-day, with a wheel or a 
lever, to make power and squeeze the paper and type. 

The folding machine referred to is intended principally for the 
double purpose of folding any number of circulars together and 
inclosing in an envelope for mailing. At one end of the machine is 



POWER AND WATER. 



527 



an envelope-making machine, and where desired return envelopes 
are made and inclosed with the letters and circulars all in the single 
operation. The outside envelope is then automatically made around 
the folded letter and circulars, and comes out for our inspection a 

letter all ready to be mailed, 
with all the inclosures neatly 
folded and inserted, and all 
stamped, if that is desired. In 
fifteen minutes this marvelous 
mechanism can do the work that 
would take the most nimble-fin- 
gered girl a full day to perform 
by hand. 

Space is too limited to des- 
cribe in detail all the machines 
of special interest. Pins, and 
matches, and toothpicks, are so 
ENVELOPE MAKING MACHINE. ^^eap and SO common that we 

seldom stop to think of the wonderful machines which produce them so 
rapidly as to make them common to all classes. These and all 
the other mechanical marvels of the age are presented in their order. 




POWER AND WATER. 

Just as every part of the Columbian Exposition 'very far excels 
the same features of every previous world's fair, so do the great 
engines for generation and transmission of power, shown as a part of 
the machinery exhibit, excel those of any other fair. There are two 
plants for supplying water. One has a capacity of 24,000,000 gal- 
lons per day, and the other of 40,000,000 gallons. Thus 64,000,000 
gallons per day are available. Innumerable fountains are playing 
in all parts of the ground, and at almost every turn are drink- 
ing fountains, all of which receive their supply from the great pumps 
above mentioned. There is a perfect system of sewerage through- 
out the grounds. All refuse from the cafes, kitchens, closets, lavato- 
ries, etc., of which there are some 7,000, are received by injectors and 
forced by compressed air through underground pipes into large tanks, 
and there treated chemically and rendered inoffensive. The com- 
pressed air is forced through underground pipes by the great engines 
at Machinery Hall. There are numerous subways about the grounds 
in which are laid the service pipes, steam pipes, wires, etc. These 



528 THE world's fair. 

monster engines, we must remember, are producing the power that is 
being conveyed about the grounds, and consumed by the exhibitors in 
every department. The light and power plants require upwards of 
26,000 horse power. Over 22,000 horse power is required for the elec- 
trical displays, and is all conducted from the power-station to what- 
ever part of the grounds, or to whatever building, and in any quantity 
required, and there made available for electric fountains^ lights, or in 
the Electrical Building, for exhibition lights, or to exploit the various 
exhibits of railway engines and cars, pumps, elevators, etc., by what- 
ever method each exhibitor may have for applying the power to his 
particular display. 

Stepping from the side entrance of Machinery Hall toward the 
north, we cross the great court back of the Administration Building, 
and come to the 

TRANSPORTATION BUILDING, 

which is situated west and north of the Mines Building, facing east 
upon the lagoon and the floral island. As we approach we are struck 
with its exquisitely refined, simple architectural treatment, although it 
seems very rich and elaborate in detail. The main entrance of the 
Transportation Building is called the Golden Door. It is a structure 
of a series of receding arches, with panels for bas-reliefs on the sides 
and over the inner doors. The entire surface is finished in gold leaf 
and has a most brilliant and imposing effect. 

One bas-relief is called the Genii of Transportation, being an 
allegorical representation of the means of travel, the various figures 
grouped above and about the globe. This piece is semicircular in 
form, and is placed in the center of one of the arches. 

Another one is entitled the Genesis of Transportation. It rep- 
resents a cart drawn by oxen, the entire mechanism being of the 
simplest and rudest construction, consisting of a plain planked floor 
resting upon two huge, massive discs for wheels. It is a picture of 
the oldest form of vehicle known to history. It is contrasted with a 
bas-relief representing a traveling party on board a Pullman sleeping 
car, in order to show the extremes of rudeness and elegance in 
traveling. 

The main building of the Transportation exhibit covers a space 
of 960 feet in length by 256 feet deep — but as shown in the plans, the 
main floor includes nearly nine acres of additional space under roof 
The total floor space, including the entresol, is nearly seventeen 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION. 533 

acres. A seventy-five foot transfer table traverses the annex along 
the western line of the main building. Railway tracks are laid in the 
annex at right angles to the transfer table. The heaviest locomotives 
and cars can be run direct from the installation track, which runs 
alongside the southern end of the building upon the transfer table, 
which takes them to their proper tracks inside the building. The 
length of these tracks is such that an entire train can be shown con- 
nected as when in actual use. The pit of the transfer table is floored 
over during the Fair. The annex is open into the main building in 
such a manner as to afford long and striking vistas down the main 
avenues and aisles. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION. 

The development of modern transportation has been so recent 
and so rapid that its significance has hardly been understood. Already 
its early history is in many instances fading away or utterly lost. 
Judged by their relations to the every day life of the world, no other 
industry surpasses it in utility, or equals it as a power in the progress 
of civilization. Considered from the standpoint of the amount of capital 
invested, it overshadows every other industry. Prof. Arthur T. Hadley, 
of Yale College, says : 

"The railroads of the world are to-day worth from twenty-five 
to thirty thousand millions of dollars. This probably represents 
one-tenth of the total wealth of civilized nations, and one-quar- 
ter if not one-third of their invested capital. It is doubtful whether 
the aggregate plant used in all manufacturing industries can equal 
it in value. The capital engaged in banking is a trifle beside it. 
The world's whole stock of money of every kind — gold, silver and 
paper — would purchase only a third of its railroads." 

If to the railroads we add the shipping of the world and all means 
of conveyance on common roads, the magnitude of the interests repre- 
sented in this department of the World's Columbian Exposition may 
be fairly estimated. 

It was the intent of this department to fully and fairly present the 
origin, growth and development of the various methods of transporta- 
tion used in all ages and in all parts of the world. As far as possible, 
the means and appliances of barbarous and semi-civilized tribes are 
shown by specimen vehicles, trappings and craft. Past history is illus- 
trated by relics of the earlier days. 



534 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

EARLY LOCOMOTIVES. 

The railway interest is illustrated on a scale of magnitude com- 
mensurate to its overshadowing importance. There are seen stately- 
rows of powerful locomotives with their appliances from the establish- 
ments of the leading builders of the world, and all devices pertaining 
to practical railroad operation. The carefully preserved relics of early 
railroading, such as the "Rachet" of Stephension, the " Pete Cooper" 
engine, sections of the tramway on which Truitheck's first locomotive 
made its trial trip, specimens of the old "grasshopper" and " camel- 
back" engines now out of use, contrast strangely with the "huge 
leviathan " products of modern ingenuity and skill. The arrangement 
of these and similar relics in historical sequence aptly demonstrates the 
wonderful development of the railway and its kindred industries 
within the nineteenth century. 

The Baltimore and Ohio Company illustrates by a series of object 
lessons, commencing with the first coach, engine and tramway, a com- 
plete history of that road. The town of Pullman is elaborated to the 
smallest detail in a model 35x100 feet. 

The Great Western Railway of England exhibits the famous old 
locomotive, "The Lord of the Isles," which was built at the company's 
works in Swindon in 1851, from designs by the late Sir Daniel Gooch. 
This locomotive was a notable exhibit at the World's Fair in London 
in 1851. From that time until July, 1881, it was continually in service, 
and ran during that period a distance of 789,300 miles without being 
fitted with a new boiler. As a pioneer of early railroading and as a 
contrast to the powerful modern " Mogul," this locomotive attracts 
much attention. 

No less attractive than the engines of history and of to-day, side 
by side, are the cars shown, both old and new. Some of the early day 
palaces would not to-day be regarded as worthy of becoming domicile 
for a sleepy crossroads switchman. There are the latest designs in 
sleeping coaches, all plush, mirrors, and gilt. Mail coaches, exactly 
as in service, dining cars, solid vestibuled trains, and minature sta- 
tions. The apparatus of the American railroads compare very favorably 
indeed with that of other countries. But the latter teach us some 
valuable lessons in matters of operation and the care of human life. 
Theirs is the most elaborate system. 

In one group are shown the construction, equipment, and methods 
of operation of city cable street railway systems, electric street railway 
systems, also elevated and underground systems. In another place 



ROADS AND ROAD VEHICLES. 537" 

we see the plans and operation of mountain railways, spirals, switch- 
backs, ship railway systems, moving platforms and sidewalks, and 
sliding railways. 

' ROADS AND ROAD VEHICLES. 

In the vehicle division is included all means and methods of trans- 
port on land, except railways, from the rude Indian cart to the elab- 
orate dog cart of to-day. Interspersed among these exhibits we find 
odd and interesting examples of old-time construction, and peculiar 
forms of conveyance in Asiatic and South American countries — such 
as the wheelbarrow of China, the jinriksha of Japan, the bullock cart 
of India, the traveling wagon of the pampas, and others typifying the 
customs of various races and civilizations. Historical interest in the 
vehicle display is aroused by such quaint old specimens as the carriage 
formerly owned by Andrew Jackson, one that belonged to Daniel 
Webster, one owned by Stephen Girard, one used by Lafayette, one 
by Abraham Lincoln, and many similar relics from museums and pri- 
vate owners abroad. 

The display of bicycles and tricycles is simply stupendous. One 
idea is a sort of balloon affair made to travel on water. We do not 
see that in operation, however. Another is a large wheel with wide 
tire, and the seat where the hub would ordinarily be. The rider sits 
within a central frame, supported by spokes running to the tire, and 
the propelling apparatus very similar in appearance to that of the ordi- 
nary safety. 

Alongside this exhibit is that in which air is the motive power. 
First is shown the system for use of compressed air to transport 
letters and parcels through pneumatic tubes ; then the applica- 
tion of compressed air to propel street cars. Next is the display 
of apparatus for store fittings to transport packages, money, etc. All 
round are. captive balloons and flying machines and air ships, some 
of most ingenious plan and construction, clearly proving that the first 
steps toward successful and practical aerial navigation have been mas- 
tered. One constant attraction of wonder is a carriage intended to 
be operated by electricity stored in batteries and applied somewhat as 
an electric car is handled. It seems very clear, too, that the suc- 
cessful culmination of this enterprise is far from an improbability, 
and may eventually supercede the good, faithful horse, and perhaps 
in many places, the bicycle. This electric carriage could serve an 
entire family, and requires no pumping. 



538 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 

WATER TRANSPORTATION. 



The marine department of transportation awakens more interest, 
considering its extent, than the railway department even. 

In this section are models of the rig- of the old frigate Constitu- 
tion, the flagship of Nelson, a caravel from Spain, the exact copy of 
the Santa Maria, in which Columbus made his first voyage, canoes of 
the native traders of the West Indies, hewn from a single tree and 




SANDW^CH ISLAND BOAT. 



propelled by twenty-five paddles. There are models of such modern 
racing schooners as the America, Mayflower, Puritan and Volunteer. 
All sorts of stern-wheel passenger and freight steamers for river navi- 
gation, steel-screw ferry boats, electric pinnaces, naphtha launches, 
etc., are shown. Then there appear in their natural order, ketches 
and brigantines, sloops and barques of the Atlantic coast in 1714, rafts, 
arks, barges, keel -boats and broad-horns. 

Among reversible life-boats there is a model showing the method 
of interior ventilation during a gale of wind ; also one showing how the 



WATER TRANSPORTATION. 539 

boat can be dropped into the sea in the darkest night from a sinking 
ship Avith "all hands" on board. Representations are made of the life- 
boat under as many different conditions as possible, riding out a gale at 
sea, and after the gale with its sail set; also a model of a triangular raft, 
with tent to protect its occupants from exposure ; also various other life- 
boats and rafts of large and small sizes, and metallic boats. 

An interesting and useful device is an automatic ship log and 
speed indicator, which will show in actual operation the speed in miles 
per hour that a vessel is traveling, by means of a dial and pointer. It 
will also record automatically on paper the speed and give the day and 
hour the ship is sailing or standing still. 

The great steamship companies have made attractive exhibits of 
models of their famous boats, showing a complete history of ocean 
transportation and time made; also the models of training-ships, and 
of our own latest cruisers. The Merrimac and Monitor once more face 
each other, and thrill us with a recollection of the old, familiar story. 




THE ELECTRICAL DISPLAY. 



It is not necessary that we should penetrate the Fair grounds as 
far as Electricity Building to be made aware of the presence of an 
electrical display. If our visit is by day, the moving sidewalk pro- 
pelled by electricity, the numerous cars to transport passengers about 
the grounds, driven along by unseen power, or numerous public tele- 
phones scattered about the grounds, or graceful boats plying the 
waters of the lagoons, with electric motive power, are sufficient 
suggestions, without remarking the great arc lamps and wires ail 
about. But if we go by night the display is more forcibly impressed 
upon us by the endless number of lights of various kinds. Without 
taking into account the light from the wonderful electric fountains, 
there are upward of 130,000 lights of various kinds within and with- 
out the buildings. About 8,000 of these are great arc lamps of 2,000 
candle power each. Such of these latter as are scattered over the 
grounds outside the buildings, with the aid of monstrous search lights, 
render all the surroundings nearly as distinguishable as at midday. 

THE ELECTRIC FOUNTAIN. 

As we enter the grounds from the lake by way of the main lagoon, 
the scene by night is one of wondrous brilliance, something never to 
be forgotten. Row boats, gondolas, steam yachts, and all sorts of 

small pleasure craft crowd the space 
about the head of the lagoon, where 
it branches off to right and to left, not- 
withstanding that it is about 500 feet 
from shore to shore in the main chan- 
nel, and the branches extend indefinitely 
to north and south. We have not long 
to wonder at the great crowd, for sud- 
denly up to a great height flashes a 
dazzling sheet of brilliantly illumined 
water, followed closely by another, then 
another, and many others swiftly following until they blend and fall 
away to be followed by others, uniting, crossing, now out, now in, 

S40 




ONE OF THE GROUPS. 



THE ELECTRIC FOUNTAIN. 



543 




then straight up, then across ag^ain, some shooting high, some low, 
and all the time undergoing constant changes of color in seemingly- 
unending variety. This wonderful pyrotechnic water display which 

chains the multitude in awful, breath- 
less silence, then forces it into a 
united involuntary exclamation of 
wonder and delight which rises from 
a hundred thousand throats like the 
sound of a mighty storm — -this is 
the electric fountain, the largest and 
the finest fountain that the world has 
ever seen. As I have said, the foun- 
tain is at the head of the main lagoon 
as we come from the lake inland. The 
lagoon is several hundred feet wide, 
and at the head, where the fountain 
is situated, the shore is made to form 
a semicircle, so that the great foun- 
tain stands in the arc, visible directly 
on three sides from shore, and in 
front from the water. 
The idea is that of an apotheosis of modern liberty. Columbia 
assumes the shape of a triumphal barge, guided by Time and her- 
alded by Fame. There are eight standing figures, representing on 
one side the arts, and on the other science, industry, agriculture, and 
commerce. Eight big sea horses form a circle directly in front of the 
fountain. They are mounted by eight stalwart young men as out- 
riders, who represent commerce. The design of the basin is circular, 
1 50 feet in diameter, and flanked on each side by columns fifty feet 
high, surmounted by eagles. The water is furnished by a half circle 
of dolphins in the rear and by a system of jets which surround the 
barge and figures. The smallest figure is twelve feet high, and the 
largest twenty feet high. 

Directly beneath the fountain is the machinery which produces 
the beautiful effects which we have just witnessed. There are power- 
ful dynamos, producing lights of many thousand candle power, and 
these are focused by means of strong reflectors, against the glasses 
dividing the room below from the water above. The lights and 
glasses are so arranged that each jet of water above is made to catch 
a reflection, and the changing of colors is accomplished by the use of 



ANOTHER GROUP. 



544 



THE WORLD S FAIR. 



colored glasses, which are shifted about before the various reflectors. 
The beautiful effects produced are resultant from the expenditure of a 
great amount of hard work by those beneath the fountain, and all is 
made possible only by great money outlay to begin with. The work 
of the sculptors in producing the barge and the figures cost alone 
over $50,000, and required nearly a year's time in execution. In addi- 
tion to this was the building of the great foundation, with provision 




ELECTRIC FOUNTAIN. 

for the electric plant beneath. Remember that the basin of the fount- 
ain has a diameter of 150 feet, and you can then realize the magni- 
tude of the undertaking. It takes power to throw the vast volume of 
water spouted by the fountain during every twenty-four hours, and 
especially during the evening, when for the liveliest effect the water is 
thrown to unusual height, and such power costs money to begin with, 
and costs more to operate. 



ELECTRICITY'S HOME. 

With our minds upon the electricity exhibit, and so much display 
already encountered before reaching the Electrical Building, we are 
prepared to be satisfied already, or to see still greater marvels, and be 
surprised- at nothing. This building is nearly in the center of the 
grounds, facing the great court to the south, the great Manufactures 



LIGHT. 545 

Building' across the lag^oon to the east, the lagoon and the wooded 
island to the north, and to the west is the Mining Building. The 
length of the building is 700 feet by 345 feet in width, making 241,500 
square feet, equal to nearly six acres. Longitudinal galleries extend 
along either side 115 feet wide, at a height of 30 feet above the main 
floor. These galleries are connected by two bridges, with access by 
four grand staircases. The area of the galleries is equal to nearly 
three acres, making a grand total of over eight acres of floor space 
for the most brilliant and most beautiful display as a whole, if not the 
most novel and interesting, contained in any department. 

All the apparatus to illustrate the phenomena and laws of electric 
and magnetic forces are shown. We see how a dynamo works, and 
finally understand the philosophy of its generating and transmitting 
operations. In the event of war, we may have our torpedoes sunk at 
the proper distances in the mouth of the harbor, connected by wire with 
the shore, and one man may defy the combined force of the strongest 
navy. He "presses the button," electricity and the torpedoes do the 
rest. Night cannot render these agencies of warfare unavailable, for 
electricity has annihilated darkness, with her search lights of innu- 
merable candle power. 

The telegraph and telephone, their development and present 
scope, are interestingly illustrated with models of the appliances used 
in the early stages of the science, and actual operation of the systems 
in their present state of development. By telephone we converse with 
friends a thousand miles away. By telegraph we send a message 
around the world in two minutes. Thought alone travels more quickly. 

LIGHT. 

Competition in the display of incandescent lighting has produced 
the most charming exhibition that can be imagined. Rooms are 
fitted up in order to illustrate the use of electricity in lighting build- 
ings. The most marvelous effects are produced. The little, soft 
lights appear in all sorts of unexpected places, and in every con- 
ceivable form. In harmony with the furnishings of the room, perhaps 
they reflect a pink, or green, or maroon or some other shade. They 
form a motto on the wall, or, in a collection of colors, suddenly, by 
the turning of the button, form a floral design or a picture. There 
are dazzling vari-colored arches, friezes in scroll design, pyramids, 
towers, globes, balloons and figures of all sorts, composed of multi- 
tudes of little lights, ingeniously mingled with prismatic glass settings. 



546 THE world's fair. 

The men in charge of the displays are constantly working the 
switches, and the lights change, making new figures, and coming and 
going as the changes occur, catch the prisms of their glass settings from 
new directions, and send forth new colors in never ending variety. The 
whole effect is indescribable. One firm spent nearly $100,000 to con- 
struct a great tower reaching nearly to the roof, of Bohemian crystal, 
vari-colored and in hundreds of dainty designs, all lighted from within 
by opalescent and tinted incandescent globes wrought into the figures, 
designed to contrast pleasingly with the shimmering exterior. 

AN ELECTRICAL HOME. 

The ladies are especially interested in the exhibit of a model house, 
built to demonstrate in actual operation every economic application of 
electricity for use in the home. Beginning at the door, electric bells 
announce the visitor; the servant, who is a luxury, not a necessity^ 
where electricity holds sway, ushers the visitor into the parlor, and 
touches a button, which closes the electric circuit connecting a loud 
speaking phonograph that stands on the table. While waiting for the 
host the visitor enjoys a selection from "Faust" by Strauss' Orches- 
tra, or a few bars of a sacred melody by Gilmore's Orchestra. The 
hostess arrives and is kept in touch with her servants by electric calls 
daintily fashioned. The party adjourns to dinner unannoyed by 
smells from the kitchen, for that necessary adjunct to the home is at 
the top of the house, and is connected with the dining-room by elec- 
tric waiters. Dishes are kept hot on the table by dainty polished 
electric warming furnaces, connected by wires under the table. About 
the time dinner is over an imperious servant gets angry about some- 
thing and leaves in a huff. My lady bows her company into the parlor, 
excuses herself for a moment, darts out into the dining-room, slips 
the dishes into the waiter, and with a touch of the button they are 
upstairs. A large electric dish-washer is at hand and in five minutes 
the dishes are washed, my lady's dainty hands not having touched 
the water. An electric dish-drier completes the toilet of the tableware. 

Washday comes round, and if the servant has not been replaced, 
my lady throws the dry soiled clothes into a big vat of cold water, with 
a piece of soap, pushes the contact button, and that is all. The water 
heats, and by an automatic process the clothes are thoroughly rubbed 
and cleaned. A new filling of water rinses them; they are "blued" 
by the same automatic process, and upon a stick she hands them into 
the electric wringer. If the weather is bad, or my lady does not care 



AN ELECTRICAL HOME. 547 

to be seen as the " maid in the garden hanging out the clothes," she 
may dry them in a garret, which is heated Hke the rest of the house, 
by electric radiators. Electric ironing machines finish the day's work, 
and my lady is none too tired to go to the opera in the evening, 
although she has done the week's washing and ironing, besides get- 
ting lunch for the children on her electric kitchen range. Tuesday, 
which would otherwise be ironing day, and my lady would " have to 
get lunch so that the girl could finish her ironing," she can turn 
the switch on her sewing machine, and, without moving a muscle, 
can sew the blessed day. If it is summer time an electric fan 
keeps her cool, and if it be winter a system of thermostats will keep 
the whole house regulated in the matter of warmth, and she has 
neither cold feet, nor a headache from the heat, A carpet sweeper 
run from a little motor allows no blistered hands, no back-aches from 
sweeping, and health, wealth and happiness is the result. 

The Electricial Building cost $650,000, but this sum is insignifi- 
cant as compared with the amount represented in the exhibits it con- 
tains, for they are said to aggregate upwards of $2,000,000. But the 
results shown remind us of childhood's fairy tales and of Aladdin and 
his wohderful lamp. We come away sworn never again to question 
the possibility of any accomplishment under the sun. 




MINES AND MINING. 



ANCIENT IRON -WORKING. 

The Spaniards, under Columbus, setting sail from the Port of 
Palos, started on a prospecting tour to the mineral regions on the other 
shore of a vast ocean. Like the lone miner who mounts his burro and 
crosses the waste plains to explore for hidden wealth in the distant and 
mountainous "new" country, the expedition of these hardy voyagers 
was for the gold, the silver, and the precious gems of the fabulously 
rich lands of the mythical Cathay. When America crossed their track 
its possibilities for future greatness excited them less than the prospect 
for an immediate realization of its wealth — for filling their returning 
galleons with the abundant precious stones. 

Considering this fact, the Columbian Exposition appropriately 
and properly yields a conspicuous place to a mining display. Interest 
centers in the Mining Building as a museum of those metals and 
minerals that were such an incentive to the enterprise of the great 
Spanish voyager ; more especially because here are placed historical 
exhibits illustrating by means of models, drawings, or original tools 
and appliances themselves, the successive advances made in the 
metallurgical art from the primitive methods in vogue among the natives 
of the new world at the time Columbus landed. 

The Incas of South America are among the most ancient of gold 
miners. The amount of gold and silver produced by them is amazing. 
Atahnalpa, the last of their chiefs, bribed Pizarro for release from prison 
by offering to fill with gold, as high as he could reach, a room 22x17 
feet. These Indians were very successful mining engineers. Many of 
the canals and sluices constructed by them for use in hydraulic mining 
still exist in Peru and show surprising ingenuity. Many of their cop- 
per mining tools have also been discovered. For washing the metal- 
liferous dirt they employed a so-called "batea," or wooden pan, 
differing from the miner's " pan " of California only in having a conical 
bottom, at the apex of which the gold was collected by dexterous hand- 
ling. These Indians were also acquainted with the process of collect- 
ing gold by quicksilver riffles. The Amazon Indians used a dugout 

54S 



FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF MEXICO. 549 

canoe, its bottom fluted with transverse grooves. This they tipped 
on end, turned on some water, and then rocked it to and fro, gather- 
ing the gold in the grooves and the bow of the boat. These antique 
tools and mining works are presented in the South American sections 
or in the archaeological division of the main mining display. 

FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF MEXICO. 

The rich veins of gold and silver of the mountains of Mexico have 
been worked since prehistoric times by the ancient Montezumas. 
Their processes of treating the ores survive to the present day. The 
ore is packed to the reducing establishment, called "hacienda," is 
assorted, and then pulverized in the "arrastra." This consists of a 
large round vat, like a mortar, with a peculiar grinding arrangement 
consisting of three granite stones of an oblong shape. These are tied 
to a long pole, connected with an axle, and turned by a mule walking 
around in a circle blindfolded. An "arrastra" is on exhibition in the 
Mining Department. 

The somewhat famous " patio process " for the reduction of silver 
ores is another historical attraction. This was invented by Barthol- 
ome de Medina, a Mexican miner, about 155 1. Within two centuries 
it was generally used throughout Mexico and was then adopted in 
Europe, only to be replaced by more modern methods. The process 
derives its name from the patio, or yard, at the mouth of the mine 
where the operation is usually conducted. The pasty mud taken 
from the arrastra mills is here thrown upon a hard stone floor, and, 
after being fixed with quicksilver and salt, is called "soup." After 
undergoing evaporation for several days the mass is stirred up 
by the feet of horses or men until well mixed, when it is called 
"cake of mud." The amalgamated silver is washed and then placed 
in canvas bags. The mercury is squeezed out by pressure and 4;he 
residual silver is purified in a furnace and then run off into molds. 

The evolution of the metallurgical industry is illustrated by other 
relics of early days. Mexico furnishes some of the old-fashioned 
Catalan forges for ironmaking with their crude hammers and water 
blasts. Catalonia was a province in Spain where this antique imple- 
ment was first employed and from which skilled ironmongers were 
exported to the new world. This primitive affair makes a strong 
contrast with the modern improved forging press of 4,000 tons worked 
by 2,000 horse-power engines and commanded by traveling cranes 
capable of lifting 150 tons. 



550 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

The iron industry of the United States has much to show for its 
development since the days of Columbus. It was as early as 1619 
that a London company sent over to Virginia 100 persons skilled in 
the manufacture of iron. On the banks of the James River they 
established the first works for the smelting of ores in America, and 
erected one of the Catalan forges. Unfortunately the colony was, 
within a few years, annihilated by Indians and the works demolished. 
The first blast furnace in Maryland dates back to 1724 and was 
christened the "Principio." Some years ago two pigs of iron bear- 
ing the lettering " Principio, 1751," were raised by fisherman from the 
Patapsco River. One of the pigs is exhibited at the Fair. 

PRODUCING BESSEMER STEEL. 

The growth of Bessemer steel operations is the most stupendous 
fact in the development of the metallurgical industries. In 1865 two 
Bessemer converters combined gave a total annual product of 500 
tons. In 1890 there were eighty-two and the product over 4,000,000 
tons. This great expansion is to be accounted for largely through 
the perfection of the machinery used in these processes. The most 
striking illustration of this is seen in the iron and steel section of the 
Mining Building. In a conspicuous place is exhibited the original steel 
converter upon which, in 1857, Mr. Kelly of Kentucky obtained his 
patent. In comparison with this relic is placed the ponderous equip- 
ment of a steel plant. There are blast and puddling furnaces, open- 
hearth furnaces, rolls, steel trains, and every conceivable process of 
manufacture together, flanked by artistically arranged stacks of the 
product in its various forms of bars, rods, sheets, wire, etc. 

ELECTRICITY AND METALS. 

The development of the American metallurgical industries, typi- 
fied in all its rapidity and magnitude by the iron and steel industry, 
seems about to take a start in a new direction. Electricity is stand- 
ing on the threshold ready to inaugurate a revolution in this, as it has 
in almost all other industrial provinces. It has already taken great 
strides in its application to mining machinery, and has more lately been 
employed in the extraction on a large scale of the commercial metals. 

The " electrolytic process," as it is called, as applied to the pro- 
duction of commercial copper, is demonstrated by a large American 
copper firm. In brief, the operation is as follows: The pulverized 



ELECTRICTY AND METALS. 555 

copper ore,, or matte, is mixed with a solution containing a lixiviant, 
which unites chemically with the copper. The copperized liquor thus 
formed becomes a bath for the two poles of a strong- electric current, 
the positive pole, or anode, being placed at the bottom, and consisting 
of numerous and indestructible rods of carbon. The copper then 
gathers with great thickness as a precipitate upon the other pole, 
called cathode, which is a broad plate of wood lined with copper sheet- 
ing. This process is far superior to and cheaper than the old method 
of reducing ore ; as, for instance, by the "wet" way, in which it had 
to be continuously roasted and leached three or four times. By the 
new way all ores, rich or poor, can be utilized and reduced in ten 
hours' time, without smelting, while the product is chemically pure. 
The great electrical firm of Siemens & Halske, are now operating 
successfully a plant of this description in Germany. 

From hand-washing to electrical reduction constitutes the evolu- 
tion consummated in the last 400 years, and the successive stages are 
illustrated so completely as to make the exhibit in the Mining Build- 
ing an instructive compendium of mining archaeology and a concrete 
demonstration of progress in metallurgical science. 







FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The Fisheries Building embraces a large central structure with 
two smaller polygonal buildings connected with it on either end by- 
arcades. The extreme length of the building is 1,100 feet and the 
width 200 feet. 

In the central portion is the general Fisheries exhibit. In one of 
the polygonal buildings is the Angling exhibit and in the other tlie 
Aquaria. 

To the close observer the exterior of the building cannot fail to 
be exceedingly interesting, for the architect exerted all his ingenuity 
in arranging innumerable forms of capitals, brackets, cornices and 
other ornamental details, using only fish and other sea forms for his 
motif of design. The roof of the building is of old Spanish tile, and 
the side walls of pleasing color. The cost is about $200,000. 

In the center of the polygonal building is a rotunda sixty feet in 
diameter, in the middle of which is a basin or pool twenty-six feet wide, 
from which rises a towering mass of rocks, covered with moss and 
lichens. From clefts and crevices in the rocks crystal streams of water 
gush and drop to the masses of reeds, rushes, and ornamental semi- 
aquatic plants in the basin below. In this pool gorgeous gold fishes, 
golden ides, golden tench, and other fishes disport. From the rotunda 
one side of the larger series of aquaria may be viewed. These are 
ten in number, and have a capacity of 7,000 to 27,000 gallons of 
water each. 

THE AQUARIA. 

Passing out of the rotunda, a great corridor or arcade is reached, 
where on one hand can be viewed the opposite side of the series of 
great tanks, and on the other a line of tanks somewhat smaller, ranging 
from 750 to 1,500 gallons each in capacity. The corridor or arcade is 
about fifteen feet wide. The glass fronts of the aquaria are in length 
about 575 feet, and have 3,000 square feet, of surface. 

The total water capacity of the aquaria, exclusive of reservoirs, is 
18,725 cubic feet, or 140,000 gallons. This weighs 1,192,425 pounds, 
or almost 600 tons. Of this amount about 40,000 gallons is devoted 

556 




NORWEGIAN AND AMERICAN FISHING BOATS AS SEEN AT THE FAIR. 



THE AQUARIA. 559 

to the Marine exhibit. In the entire salt-water circulation, including 
reservoirs, there are about 80,000 gallons. The pumping and distrib- 
uting plant for the Marine Aquaria is constructed of vulcanite. The 
pumps are in duplicate, and each has a capacity of 3,000 gallons per 
hour. The supply of sea water was secured by evaporating the 
necessary quantity at the Wood's Holl station of the United States 
Fish Commission to about one- fifth its bulk, thus reducing both quantity 
and weight for transportation about eighty percent. The fresh water 
required to restore it to its proper density is supplied from Lake 
Michigan. 

Probably no part of the great Exposition attracts more atten- 
tion than this section devoted to fish and fisheries. There is a fascina- 
tion about fishing that captivates the average man and woman. There 
are few who have not at some time either fished or longed to do so. « 

Who is there that will not recall delightful hours or days spent on I 

the brook-side, on river, lake or ocean, pulling from their depths the 
gamy beauties whose capture affords such magnificent sport ? 

It should not be forgotten that fishing was the earliest indus- 
try of the new world. Indeed, tradition claims that Europeans visited 
the great ocean banks of the Western Atlantic years before this conti- 
nent was discovered by Columbus, and it is a matter of historical 
record that fleets of fishing vessels followed close in the wake of the 
great discoverer, and as early as 15 15 the crews of fifty ships 
(Basques, Norman, English, Spanish and Portuguese fishermen) were 
plying their lines for cod on the banks of Newfoundland. 

So, when we say that all that pertains to fisheries, their history, 
development and present condition are fully represented ; when it is 
understood that the fishermen themselves are here, as well as models 
of the boats and vessels in which they sailed, and there is also an 
endless variety of living fish, of fishing tackle and fishery products, of 
folk lore and literature, it is easy to see that here is a corner which 
the public desire to visit, and where people linger. For here, as old 
John Bunyan wrote, 

"You see the ways the fisherman doth take 
To catch the fish; what engines doth he make ! 
Behold how he engageth all his wits ; 
Also his snares, lines, angles, hooks and nets," 



560 THE world's fair. 

FISH CULTURE. 

In addition to angling and commercial fishing, there is a full and 
complete illustration of the history and present methods of fish cult- 
ure. Here is shown everything that relates to that great and impor- 
tant system of fish culture that has attained such success in this 
country, and is fraught with such immense possibilities to the support 
of the millions that will people America in the future. 

And all that science has learned of the seas, lakes and rivers is 
here placed before the eye of the public, together with the apparatus, 
the ships and the methods employed by the U. S. Fish Commission 
and other similar agencies for studying questions relating to the deep." 

A GLIMPSE UNDER THE OCEAN. 

How few there are who have any conception of the beau- 
tiful and curious which science has revealed of the ocean's depths. 
Look, for instance, at this wonderful show in the aquaria of algse or sea- 
weeds. The exquisite foliage and wonderful coloring of these plants 
cannot be described; the colors range through the various shades of 
yellow, brown, green, ^ red and purple, some species displaying the 
most exquisitely beautiful hues. The fresh waters are also represented 
by natural growths of the wonderful variety of their plant life. 

Among the fresh water fishes of large size that are displayed 
are the Atlantic and Pacific salmon, the muskalonge, the lake trout, 
the sturgeon, the spoon-bill catfish, the great Mississippi catfish, the 
long and short-nosed gars, the alligator gar, etc. Smaller species 
include all the species of trout, the whitefish and other lake fishes, the 
basses, carp, buffalo, catfish, sunfish, eels, etc. 

Of the larger salt water fishes there are represented sharks, dog- 
fish, skates, rays, torpedoes, the goose-fish, striped bass, drums, grunts, 
sheepshead, porgies, tautog, flounders blue-fish, squeteague or weak- 
fish, and many others. 

Smaller species are represented by sculpins, sea-robbins, toad- 
fish, sea-ravens, puffers or swell-fish, mullet, blennies, gobys, stickle- 
backs, pipe-fish, sea-horses, as well as many Mexican, South Ameri- 
can, Asiatic and European varieties. There are also octopi, com- 
monly known as devil-fishes, cuttle-fishes and jelly-fishes. Of the 
lower forms of life generally, there are representatives of the mollusks, 
anemones, star-fishes, sea-urchins, holothurians or sea-cucumbers, 
corals, etc. 



A GLIMPSE UNDER THE OCEAN. 



561 



All these are livingr and swimming- around in the immense tanks 
just as if they were at home in their native waters. 

When we tire of looking at the stranore and fascinating- forms of 
the live fish, and the charm of even the tackle and the boats for catch- 
ing- them is gone, let us step into the restaurant in this corner, where 
fish in every variety is served in every conceivable form. This fish 




WHALING IMPLEMENTS AND SPOILS. 



restaurant is one of the features of the department, and illustrates in a 
most delightful way the practical value of all we have seen, for, after 
all, we are a practical people, and have excused ourselves for many 
an idle day spent in fishing, with the excuse that we were providing 
for the next day's dinner. 



THE ART GALLERIES. 



This great building is located in the northern part of the park 
and completes the group of giant structures housing the vast exhibits 
in the several departments. 

Grecian-Ionic in style, the Fine Arts Building is a pure type of 
the most refined classic architecture. The building is oblong, and is 
500 by 320 feet, intersected north, east, south and west by a great 
nave and transept 100 feet wide and 70 feet high, at the intersection 
of which is a dome 60 feet in diameter. The building is 125 feet to 
the top of the dome, which is surmounted by a colossal statue of the 
type of the famous figure of Winged Victory. The transept has a 
clear space through the center of 60 feet, being lighted entirely from 
above. 

On either side are galleries 20 feet wide and 24 feet above the 
floor. The collections of sculpture are displayed on the main floor 
of the nave and transept, and on the walls both of the ground floor 
and of the galleries are ample areas for displaying the paintings and 
sculptured panels ii\ relief. The corners made by the crossing of the 
nave and transept are filled with small picture galleries. 

Around the entire building are galleries 40 feet wide, forming a 
continuous promenade around the classic structure. Between the 
promenade and the naves are the smaller rooms devoted to private 
collections of paintings and the collections of the various art schools. 
On either side of the main building, and connected with it by hand- 
some corridors, are very large annexes, which are also utilized by 
various art exhibits. 

The main building is entered by four great portals, richly orna- 
mented with architectural sculpture, and approached by broad flights 
of steps. The walls of the loggia of the colonnades are highly deco- 
rated with mural paintings, illustrating the history and progress of the 
arts. . The frieze of the exterior walls and the pediments of the prin- 
cipal entrances are ornamented with sculptures and portraits in bas- 
relief of the masters of ancient art. 

The general tone or color is light gray stone. 

The construction, although of a temporary character, is necessarily 
fire-proof. The main walls are of solid brick, covered with ''staff," 



THE ART GALLERIES. 565 

architecturally ornamented; while the roof, floors and galleries are of 
iron. 

All light is supplied through glass sky-lights in iron frarrjes. 

The building is located beautifully in the northern portion of the 
park, with the south front facing the lagoon. It is separated from 
the lagoon by beautiful terraces, ornamented with balustrades, with 
an immense flight of steps leading down from the main portal to 
the lagoon, where there is a landing for boats. The north front faces 
the wide lawn and the group of state buildings. The immediate 
neighborhood of the building is ornamented with groups of statues, 
replica ornaments of classic art, such as the Choragic monument, the 
"Cave of the Winds," and other beautiful examples of Grecian art. 
The ornamentation also includes statues of heroic and life-size pro- 
portions. 

It is possible to describe a piece of machinery or a building, but 
who can adequately place a masterpiece of painting or sculpture 
before another's eyes by any combination of words the language is cap- 
able of. We shall not, therefore, try to tell what is in this temple of 
art. We can only say that by all authorities this is the grandest 
display of art the world has ever known ! Not even the Paris Expo- 
sition can equal it. The interest has been intense in all countries and 
the result is such a collection of ancient and modern art as even 
the most enthusiastic supporter of the Fair did not dare to hope for. 
The effect of such a display in an educational way on the future of art 
in the United States cannot be estimated. We must leave the simple 
figures giving the number of square feet of hanging space assigned 
to each country, (with the statement that every nation has sent its best) 
to speak for itself of what there is to be seen : 



America. 24,324 

England 21,325 

Canada 2,895 

France 29,201 

Germany 20,340 

Austria 11 1564 

Belgium UoSS 

Italy 8,110 



Norway 8,282 

Sweden 6,825 

Denmark 3>930 

Russia 7>725 

Spain 7^807 



Holland. 



9>337 

Japan 2,235 

Mexico 



1,500 

It will be seen that the largest space has been given to France, 
the second to the United States. All the figures fall considerably 
below what had been asked for. There was only a certain amount of 
space at hand, and it had to be divided in the most equitable manner 
that could be found. A large portion of the space that goes to France 
is, however; occupied by paintings of French origin owned in America, 



THE WOMAN'S DEPARTMENT. 



ITS INCEPTION. 



Fair, white and stately rises the Woman's Building out at Jackson 
Park. Even one accustomed to beautiful edifices and surroundings 
•of other expositions hesitates for a word which will convey all it 
.should of the first impression. There is a suggestion about it of the 
old Colonial mansions of the long-ago days when the struggling set- 
tlements hugging the Atlantic shores essayed to reproduce, as far as 
they were able, the manners and life of the old England from whence 
they came. Long, narrow beds of plants, with their wealth of blos- 
soms, cling closely to. the outer walls, broken only by the broad steps 
leading to the entrance on each of the four sides. Flowers that grow 
and thrive in quaint gardens in quiet places; pinks, Queen Margarets 
and fleur de lis — -flags, dear old grandmother will tell you they are, as 
she steps from out her own box-bordered posy beds — ^fair to look 
upon, with their spikes of pale blue, lavender, white and golden yellow. 

Beautiful, as it stands bathed in the bright sunshine, exquisitely 
symmetrical from base to roof, there is also a home-y-ness about it 
all that will appeal to every woman who looks upon it, be she from 
the fragrant pine woods of Maine or the orange groves of California ; 
for long ago, almost before this dream of " The Columbian Exhibi- 
tion" had turned into a blessed reality, its foundations were laid, and 
plans formed to perfect it as much as a sensible, noble band of true- 
hearted women could hope to do. 

The Board of Lady Managers of the Women's Exhibit is, in 
reality, the first organization of the kind authorized by "any govern- 
ment; and when Congressman Springer first made the motion that 
such a board should be appointed, it was with little thought of the 
far-reaching result of his courtesy. That women have developed 
such competency and force, latent for so many generations, is almost 
a surprise unto themselves; that they have stood the highest test of 
comprehensive intellectual power — the ability to effect an organiza- 
tion — is equally so. 

It came by the natural process of evolution, this authority from 
Congress and endorsement by the Columbian Commission, the result 
of the ball set rolling by Mrs. Gillespie at the Philadelphian Centen- 
nial, and later, by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe at New Orleans. What 
change twenty years have made in the progress of ideas! 

566 



THE WOMAN S DEPARTMENT. 



567 



It was up-hill work in both cases, especially the former ; the 
champions worked early and late ; all their influence was brought 
to bear upon giving- women a chance to prove their ability in many 
avenues but recently opened to them ; that the result was meager, 
as compared with the present, does not detract from the praise 
the generous President of the Board now existing warmly gives them. 



MRS. PALMER. 

Profiting by their experience, aided also by the friendly recog- 
nition now accorded woman, Mrs. Bertha Honore Palmer has accom- 




MRS. POTTER PALMER, 

PRESIDENT OF BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS. 

plished a work so fully rounded, so perfect in its every detail, that 
disarms all criticisms as to woman's executive ability. She has had 



568 THE world's fair. 

efficient aids, it is true, who, acting- in harmony with her, have been 
quick to see and ready to grasp the issues of the hour ; who have 
proven themselves ready also for any emergency or disputed 
question. 

But with her gracious manner, the outwardness of a warm heart 
acting upon a highly cultured nature, as well as an exceptional adapt- 
ability to all people and conditions, she has won only friendly admira- 
tion through all the difficulties of her position. No true woman could 
ever feel envious of her success ; the sweetness of her presence, the 
exquisite beauty of her face, with the loving soul shining through and 
above it, are only incentives for the " God speed her work" all unite 
in giving her. 

It is scarcely a century since a few privileges were reluctantly 
granted the gentler sex; the one of education being less limited and 
more noticeable. More slowly and reluctantly were added some of 
the others, a few at a time, with long pauses for thankfulness between. 
Now as women come forward, taking up electively the various lines 
of bread- winning, they will be shown still other ways of employment; 
ways in which their work, not clashing, but going side by side with 
men, will be of greater and more distinctive value; ways in which 
their more keenly sensitive temperaments, artistic natures and indi- 
vidual tastes can have full play; thus elevating them by the richer 
opportunities afforded, and the world as they react upon it. 

BEGINNINGS OF WOMAN'S WORK. 

That women do not possess creative minds has been so often 
repeated, they have almost grown to believe it themselves; and where, 
now and then, a, woman has been brave enough to disprove the state- 
ment, it has been with a half-apology for her temerity in attempting 
it. One great feature of the work of the Board has been to show, 
what archaeologists now concede to be true, that amongst all primi- 
tive people the industrial arts were nearly all invented and managed 
by women alone. To them we owe the art of cooking and preparing 
the food ; even the grinding of the grain for the making of the bread ; 
the skins and furs brought in from the chase were cured and dried by 
the women of the tribe ; then, as necessity demanded, garments were 
shaped from them ; these needing joining, the filaments of various 
fibers were twisted into threads. The long, peculiar-shaped needles 
the women of our Indian tribes used to carry these coarse materials 
were very different from the finely polished steel my lady uses for her 



BEGINNINGS OF WOMAN'S WORK. 569 

dainty art work or fine cambric ruffling, but none the less did they 
answer the purpose for which the squaw fashioned them. The pretty 
baskets we gather from different countries are but the outgrowth of 
the ruder sorts that answered all the purposes which the women of a 
lower civilization demanded. The vegetable dyes that blend so 
charmingly in the closely woven blankets of our own Western sav- 
ages, and that have the rare merit of growing more mellow and rich 
with time, were, little by little, the result of woman's experiments. 
Even in domestic use, the pretty, graceful jars and vases were her 
thought, as well as the decoration and ornamentaticwi. 

As time passed on, these rude beginnings began to have a slight 
commercial value, and were then appropriated by men, who devoted 
time and talents to their further development. So another feature 
of the Board has been to present the chronological history of not only 
the origin but the progress of the industries that have been carried 
on by women from early to modern times; giving also, in connection, 
the existing condition of the toilers and spinners^ not only in our own 
country, but throughout the world; to know if the hard, wearing work 
is still theirs at starvation prices, or whether, when possessing the 
same skill and ability as men, their returns are equally remunerative. 

Taking a higher plane, it will be most interesting to know if 
those women who have been afforded increased educational facilities 
show as much development in the active industries of life as in 
intellectual pursuits, and of what advantage, practically, this education 
has been to them. One of the first questions arising before the Board 
was the much-vexed one of a separate exhibit; to say it was har- 
moniously arranged, when members of such different opinions pos- 
sessed equal rights, shows how entirely the success of this department 
had obliterated all individual preferences; those who believed the 
extent and variety of the most valuable work done by women could 
not be comprehended unless displayed in a separate building, yield- 
ing to the judgment of the more radical thinkers who knew the 
exhibit should not alone be one of sex, but merit, and as women 
were competing side by side with men for equal success, so their 
work should be arrayed. Besides, in some of the departments, if a 
finished whole is displayed, the work cannot be separated; where this 
is the case, those interested will find some device placed on such 
exhibits showing the relative proportions of the work upon it. 

That even the Commission itself hardly recognizes the part 
women's labor in the finished article represents, is shown by the 



570 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

reply made the Lady President when, in defining the duties of her 
Board, slie asked a member the number of representatives allowed on 
the juries where the work of her sex was either wholly or in part 
concerned. He granted the privilege of naming the entire jury that 
would award prizes in such cases. Understanding the real state of 
the case, Mrs. Palmer modestly requested that half the number should 
be women. Had she taken him at his word, there would have been 
few juries for the Commission to have appointed, as women's work 
enters so largely into every department of trade. 

A WOMAN'S BUILDING FOR WOMAN'S EXHIBITS. 

To present the best she has achieved in both the poetry 
and the prose of her daily life ; to show how, with brush and 
pencil, as well as the more difficult tools of the sculptor and 
carver, she has wrought out her own success ; when, with " words 
that burn" and thoughts that encourage, she has aided others 
to develop that which is most lovely and true within themselves; 
how, in the care of little children entrusted to her, she has 
striven to pull away the weeds and cultivate only the beautiful blos- 
soms for their afterlife ; when, with gentle sympathy, her loving hand 
has been outstretched to the less fortunate who have fallen by the 
wayside; to emphasize, also, the great but hitherto unacknowledged 
services women have rendered the industries, arts and sciences, as 
well in the past as in the present ; to prove that, while not trained for 
such pursuits, their talent and power have been so great, they have 
been able to surmount the artificial obstructions that have environed 
them, influencing in a marked degree their own and succeeding eras 
— such is the object of this department. 

None but a woman could plan such a building, and when the 
Board requested a departure from the usual rules, which had provided 
for only male competitors, it was at once acceded to. It spoke well, 
also, for this branch of female work, that of the twelve designs sub- 
mitted, ten were extremely creditable. After most painstaking 
scrutiny the number was reduced to four, and from these the selection 
was most difficult. The one at last decided upon was that of Miss 
Hayden, a Bostonian, and it scarcely seems an "ower true tale" that 
all this was planned, its wonderful beauty and symmetry thought out, 
by a young girl just from her graduation — not yet entered upon the 
duties of her profession. Fresh laurels come to her from Mr. Rich- 
ard M. Hunt, President of the Society of American Architects, who 



A WOMAN S BUILDING FOR WOMAN S EXHIBITS. 



571 



gracefully gave her the highest praise, not alone for the talent at first 
displayed, but the originality in carrying out some changes the in- 
creased space demanded. It was her happy idea that, when committee 
rooms were found to be a necessity, added a third floor and gave a 
roof-garden that should be the crowning beauty of the whole. 

Two long pavilions, parallelogram in shape, at either end, 
extending from east to west, connected by another about the same 
length, at right angles to them — this is its general outline; the 
framework, if you will, on which the rest is builded. 

Each of the triple-arched entrances to the central pavilion is sur- 
mounted, above the second story, by the pediment afforded by its 




MRS. SUSAN GALE COOKE. 

SECRETARY OF BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS. 

gently sloping roof, giving a good vantage ground for some fine dec- 
oration. The surface is forty-five feet long at the base line, and seven 



572 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

feet high at the center, and is covered by a group of figures in high 
relief. In contrast to the inchned roofs of the center are those of 
either end, for here are located the roof-gardens, and only an imper- 
ceptible incline is admissible. Nine arches on each side these central 
three, each one ten feet from its neighbor — doesn't it give a splendid 
promenade for all the world and his wife ? Its roof forms the floor for 
the open one above, which is uncovered, and looking down and beyond 
from which the view is unsurpassed. Way, way off, the waters of the 
lake stretch out like a mighty sea ; the lagoon just beneath sparkles 
in the sunlight, and the little island in its charge is full of charming 
effects in light and shade. 

All the windows in the first story are uniform in size and shape, 
the variation being given by suggestion of grouping. 

They are large, with fan-like arches at top, the molding surround- 
ing each up-springing form a short horizontal one about halfway the 
height of each window ; the plain surface between the fans being 
filled by a shell-like ornamentation which serves as a nucleus for the 
arabesques which cover the rest of the spaces. Directly over these 
windows are those of the story above, but here the fan tops have been 
omitted, and in place of the shields are Ionic columns, just the counter- 
part of those holding up the high wooden mantel in your great-grand- 
father's keeping-room, where you sat and watched the huge logs in 
the open fire-place roar and blaze on Christmas and Thanksgiving 
days. Trace out, if you please, the pretty festoons, with their flowing 
ribbons, on the broad surface below the mantel-shelf, and, looking on 
the cornice overtopping the second story of the building I am describ- 
ing, you may find their counterpart. Architects will tell you this de- 
sign is Italian Renaissance; but it is these columns and the old-time 
festoons and its fan windows that give it the touch of the colonial 
and air of comfort it presents from the' first. 

THE BUILDING'S DECORATIONS. 

If Boston furnished a designer for the constructive portion, San 
Francisco, at the other extreme of the country, has proven herself not 
one whit behind, but supplies the talent to supplement the work — the 
richness and completeness of its exterior. It must be most gratifying 
to Miss Rideout that, from a dozen competitors, her models were so 
far ahead of the others submitted, there was no question as to the 
award. Th,e grouping for the pediment was her design, and has, on 
either side, central-winged figures ten feet high, supported by smaller 



THE BUILDING S DECORATIONS. 575 

ones in a sitting posture. They represent woman and her work in 
history. A slender figure, with innocence showing in every curve of 
the face, her virgin veil surmounted by a wreath of roses, represent 
woman's virtues ; her. uplifted head illustrates the spiritual nature, 
while at her feet lies a pelican, the symbol of sacrifice and love. A 
nun, just placing her jewels upon the altar, is typical of sacrifice. 
Charity, love and motherhood are grouped together. Coming from 
above, to bring better gifts to the human, is an angelic creature 
looking downward. She is " Woman as the Spirit of Civilization, " 
and in her hand she bears the torch of wisdom ; two figures at her 
feet are strikingly illustrative, for they are woman as she was during 
the dark ages, and our own woman of the present day. In a charm- 
ingly poetic manner "Woman's Place in History" has been pictured. 
The central figure typifies her as foremost in religion and science ; the 
wreath of myrtle in her right hand she offers as the reward for virtuous 
endeavor, while the scale in her left asks for equal rights. Standing 
with her are " The Good Samaritan, " " Teacher " and " The Mistress 
of Music ; " and these tell the story of what woman has been, is, and 
always will be, to humanity. 

Passing up the broad steps of the eastern entrance and across the 
promenade, we enter the lobby, which, to be explicit, is forty feet 
square. One will hardly linger here, for, just beyond, the arched doors 
give a tempting glimpse of the great rotunda, itself a beautiful court- 
yard. Glancing upward, we find in the second story an arcade exquis- 
itely decorated. Still further on, look up, up to the richly embellished 
skylight, occupying the central third of the roof space, the remaining 
portions being filled with artistic frescoings. 

THE GALLERY OF HONOR. 
Here, where the beauty of the interior centers, is gathered from 
every nation under the sun the richest and rarest it has to offer. All 
the other departments lead up to this — the exhibit of the women of 
to-day in the "Gallery of Honor." Here are placed illustrations of 
their most creditable work in the arts and sciences as well as the in- 
dustries, and proofs of the commanding position now held by them in 
all the new modes of development. Here, space has not been 
assigned upon application, but objects have been admitted only upon 
the invitation of the Board of Lady Managers, such invitation confer- 
ring the greatest honor that can be given to any woman, and has been 
based upon the recommendation of boards that co-operated with the 
main one. 



576 THE world's fair. 

Here are rare laces, embroideries that drive the tenth command- 
ment right out of our hearts, treasures that palaces contain and 
queens possess ; art needle-work from one who has done so much to 
foster it in her own domain — Queen Victoria herself — as well as speci- 
mens from the brush of her artist daughter, the Marchioness of Lome ; 
Italy's lovely Queen — Princess Bismarck — the Czarina, too, have 
sent us of their best ; from Lady Aberdeen, who has done so much 
to develop the industries of Ireland, comes a fine display — laces of 
new and intricate patterns, many of them designed by these skilled 
workers — exquisite needle point and embroideries. 

Two large panels, one at either end of the gallery were painted 
by artists now abroad, but American born. 

Wood carvings that have taken months of the closest application, 
show what the genius and skill of the women in our art schools have 
done ; a beautiful one from Alabama is the buds, leaves and blossoms 
of her typical flower, the magnolia, carved on the same wood ; 
Michigan, to whose soil the Egyptian lotus takes so kindly, contrib- 
utes a panel having for its motif these stately flowers. 

To those who remember the work of Mrs. Ketcham at the Phila- 
delphia Centennial, when, with only a few simple tools and a lump of 
butter, she wrought out an exquisite ideal head, her last masterpiece, 
"The Peri at the Gate of Eden," will have especial value. It was the 
oft-expressed wish that such talent should have a fair chance of im- 
provement, and now here, in finest Italian "marble, her genius has 
asserted itself. 

Here, in a frame of four feet by two, is Whittier's Centennial 
Hymn richly illuminated by a Pennsylvania woman. Painted in 
water colors, the letters of the text are Gothic in character, the color 
being dark blue ; red is the color of the initial letters, and they are 
superbly decorated. 

The clever engravers, whose work so often holds its own vvith 
the best male artists, have sent us their finest specimens. 

The pottery, now molded, with its graceful outlines and decora- 
tions — what a contrast it presents to its ruder neighbor of the early 
ages in the retrospective exhibit ! 

LACE AND TAPESTRY. 

The " Little Lace-maker" of Helen Hunt displays the work done 

by the Mexican women, rare both on account of its filmy beauty, as 

well as being an industry fast d}'ing out, the younger women not 

taking up the art. Here Europe and Asia lie check to check, for 



LACE AND TAPESTRY. • 577 

the carving-s and porcelains of China and Japan, as well as the rich- 
ness of the Orient, are displayed. 

The arches at the ends of the rotunda open into halls, containing 
stairways to rig-ht and left; this gives four passage-ways to the sec- 
ond floor. Other arches lead from these into immense rooms, each 
80 by 200 feet, which occupy the entire ground floor of the end 
pavilions. That to the south forms the retrospective exhibit, and is 
devoted to women's attempts and women's inventions in the early 
days — days when Sappho sang and Hypatia worked out her prob- 
lems. Gathered here are what remains to us of their illuminated 
manuscripts, music, miniatures, as well as books of poetry, history and 
romance; their portraits, all the elaborate embroideries, textile 
fabrics, rare tapestries, and rare laces, that have been brought forth 
in every country and every era. Queen Margharita, doing what has 
never been done by any sovereign outside her own country, sends 
the crown laces; a thousand years before Christ Italy's history of lace 
begins, and includes photographs of specimens found in Egyptian 
tombs. 

To the wonderful Bayeux tapestry made by Matilda of Flanders 
and her maidens, all authorities refer in treating of mihtary science, 
arms, accoutrements, as well as the manners and customs of the days 
when her husband, William the Conqueror, went forth to subdue the 
" Tight Little Isle ; " and here we find its reproduction. Home and 
foreign committees, working together, have explored old records and 
museums, discovering work both unusual and interesting, accom- 
plished by women in unexpected paths. They exhibit reproductions 
of the statuary of the Cathedral of Strasburg made by the daughter 
of its architect, who was also his assistant. She it was who intro- 
duced the graceful, flowing lines that supplanted the stiff angles of 
mediaeval times. How few of us knew before, the modern encyclo- 
pedia owed its origin to the Abbess Henard, who, in the twelfth cen- 
tury, prepared a compendium of the knowledge of that day, illustrated 
by illuminations ; or that as early as fourteen hundred a young female 
student formed the models in wax of the human anatomy which are 
now in the museum at Bologna, the clever counterparts of which 
have been secured for this exhibit. 

THE MODEL KITCHEN. 
Up in the southern end of the story above are reception rooms, 
places for refreshment, and that which will appeal to all of us — a 
model kitchen. Just as our brightest, most clever women have proven 



578 THE world's fair. 

themselves the best of home-makers, so it will be seen this depart- 
ment is perfect in every detail. All the labor-saving inventions it 
takes a brainy woman to appreciate, the various sanitary appliances, 
the best means of ventilation, the women of the South as well as 
the North can carry home with them; and, better than all, here are the 
demonstration lessons in the best ways of cooking. Don't, I beg of 
you, say it is only theory, for the bills of fare were submitted to a 
regular committee of scientists, who decided upon the relative cost 
and standard of nutriment. Will not some poor, weary housekeeper, 
tired of her unvaried bill of fare, and those of us who have to make 
one dollar do duty for two, rejoice in this departure? 

The social feature of such a building has not been overlooked; 
there are not alone headquarters and committee rooms, but an 
immense congress hall, where clubs of women may gather for the 
interchange of ideas, as well as the opportunity of hearing addresses 
from distinguished visitors. Should you, in your enthusiasm to see 
all your energy prompts you, grow faint and weary in the cause, the 
"Department of Public Comfort " will take you in charge, and as the 
"Model Hospital, " with its trained nurses and physicians is adjoining, 
you are sure of the best attention. Opening from one of the large 
central rooms of the second floor onto the balconies are three 
immense doors, reaching from floor almost to ceiling. They are 
especially noticeable as illustrative of what can be accomplished at 
little expense by the proper arrangement of small panes of glass. 
Each door is a double one, its lower portion being of wood. 

THE LAST NAIL. 

From far-away Montana came the nail which marked the com- 
pletion of the building. It owes its existence to the clever brain of 
Mrs. Richards, wife of the Lieutenant-Governor. Three metals, gold, 
silver and copper, enter into its composition, the first-named being the 
purest that ever was dug, and came from the highest point of the 
Rockies ; the richest silver mine known produced the second, while 
the red metal came from one so rich, it has yielded sufficient to 
belt the globe. It took weeks to complete it, and reflects great credit 
on the artistic workmanship displayed by one of the youngest States 
of the Union. It represents the coat of arms and shield of Montana, 
is in the form of a brooch, with the nail in a slide back of it, and is 
the property of the Lady President. Its mountains are of copper, the 
streams and waterfalls of silver. Restino- on the circle of o-old sur- 



THE LAST NAIL. 579 

rounding the central portion are the figures of a miner and a farmer ; 
these are of the same precious metal, as are also the perfectly fash- 
ioned implements they bear. Between them, and directly over the 
rays of the setting sun, is a brilliant Montana sapphire. A ribbon of 
gold at the base bears, in black enamel, the State motto, " Oro y Pluta. " 
The woods of Nebraska furnished the hammer for this unique nail, 
itself being inlaid with gold, silver and pearl. 

COMFORT FOR YOUNG AND OLD. 

How many weary mothers, kept so often at home by little toddling 
feet, will bless the kindly impulse that has given the "Children's 
Home," where the best of care and attention, as well as educational 
facilities are afforded them. No separate appropriation having been 
made, the Board of Lady Managers found it necessary to take up the 
work of building and equipping the structure. Here are presented 
the best thoughts on diet, education, sanitation and amusements; a 
series of manikins dressed to represent the manner of clothing infants 
in the different countries of the world, and a demonstration of the 
most healthful and rational systems of dressing and caring for them. 
How comfortable look the row after row of little chairs in front of the 
platform of the assembly-room where stereopticon lectures are given 
the older boys and girls on the history of other countries, their languages, 
manners and customs, kindergartners conducting them afterward to 
the exhibit of the country that has been their theme. These teachers, 
so familiar with child-life in all its phases, supervise the amusements 
of the younger ones not accustomed to the training, and are happy in 
showing their views are so practical that valuable instruction is re- 
ceived, while the children are made perfectly happy. 

One room is their library, and here they have the periodicals, as 
well as the best volumes, especially designed for them, with portraits 
of the authors. A large square court on the ground floor serves as the 
playground ; all around its sides are gayly trimmed booths, where toys 
of all nations can be procured. None save children and the attendants 
are allowed to enter, the only vantage-ground for visitors being the 
concealed gallery overlooking the court on the upper story. In the 
center is a beautiful fountain ; its wide, shallow basin, filled with fish, 
affords place for the sailing of toy boats. The Home is two stories in 
height, its edge bordered with flowers and vines, while the flat surface, 
covered with wire netting at a height of fifteen feet, gives ample space 
for flying kites and balloons. 



OOO THE WORLD S FAIR. 

The dear little babies ! Even they can come to this wonderful 
Exposition, for in the Creche experienced nurses take them carefully 
in charge, paying such scrupulous attention to their wants, each and 
every mother is happy in feeling her own darling is the object of their 
exclusive consideration. 

Long before the opening of the Exposition it seemed as if every 
possible detail had been considered. Could there be a want unfilled? 
It was only during a meeting held at the office of Mrs. Palmer, the 
necessity of furnishing comfortable dormitories for bread-winning 
women was suggested, that the "Women's Dormitory Association" 
first took shape. Mrs. Matilda Carse, as President, has labored 
faithfully and well ; for here, adjacent to the Park, are the buildings, 
capable of sheltering five thousand women at one time. Refined, 
motherly women have a watchful care over young girls, coming either 
in groups or singly ; and at the low price of 40 cents a day most com- 
fortable accommodations are furnished. It was a happy thought to 
raise the funds necessary by issuing shares at ten dollars each, the 
stock being received as payment for lodging, and if the face value is 
not used, it is transferable. Were it notfor suchthoughtfulness, there 
are many who would be debarred from attending ; now, even those of 
limited means can afford it, and yet feel no spirit of dependence. 




AMONG THE STATES, 




AVING looked with some care through the exhibits that Uncle 
Sam has sent for our amusement and instruction, having 
, glanced, all too hastily, 'tis true, at some few of the millions of 
interesting objects presented for inspection by our enterprising 
farmers, merchants, and manufacturers, let us now visit the 
attractive buildings we see scattered around so picturesquely, 
bearing the names of the various States. Some are large and preten- 
tious, some small and home like, but in all we find a welcome and much 
to interest, whether we are citizens of one state or another. 

In proportion to their size, population, wealth and resources all the 
states have nobly responded to the demands of the occasion, and the 
state exhibits form not only one of the most attractive features of the 
Fair, but one that quickens the pride of every American, and gives new 
stimulus to his enjoyment, in the fact that the state he hails from has so 
worthily honored her sons, herself and the nation. 

It was at first planned to have each state, as far as they chose, 
erect a special building for its own exhibit. On more mature delibera- 
tion it became evident that this would merely result in having a series of 
small fiirs, of little interest m themselves, very similar to one another, 
and all of them detracting from and diminishing the exhibits in the main 
buildings. The plan was then adopted of having the state exhibits 
include only riw materials, such as minerals and cereals, and of having 
all manufactured anielfs properly classified and distributed in the dif- 
ferent departments according to their character 

As nearly all the states have made liberal appropriations for the 
purpose of the Exposition, some of them as high as a million dollars, it 
was desired that they should each have some special headquarters, where 
they could be located and their citizens could gather. This has resulted in 
the charming cluster of State Homes in the north end of Jackson Park, 
and in the Midway Plaisance. Among the most attractive features of 
the great Fair have been the numerous reunions of which these State 

581 



ILLINOIS. 585 

club-houses have been the scene. FatniHes, widely scattered through the 
Union — neighborhood friends, separated by the long lapse of years; 
army regiments, who last met on the field of battle, or at the final 
muster out, all these have met and rehearsed the old times, renewed the 
old friendships, and parted again with lighter hearts. 

Each state has naturally striven to make the most complete and 
favorable showing of its varied products, its natural advantages, its 
progress in education, science and the arts, and whatever tends to the 
enrichment and elevation of mankmd. It is but natural that, in the brief 
survey we can take of these various exhibits, we should start at home. 

ILLINOIS AND HER NEIGHBORS. 

As Illinois was chosen for the home of the Fair, she took proper 
pride in having her building a fitting acknowledgment of the honor done 
her, and a true representative of her wealth, position, and progress.. 
This building is 450 feet long, 160 feet wide, and is surmounted by a 
noble dome 72 feet in diameter, and rising to a height of 200 feet. Its. 
cost was 1400,000. In this grand structure is gathered, contrary to the 
prevailing rule, the state exhibit. It represents fully the agricultural 
resources of the commonwealth, its immense coal deposits, the rich 
veins of lead and zinc, the commerce of its great lake port — at which 
more vessels yearly enter and clear than at New York and Boston com- 
bined — and the net-work of railways spread over the state like a spider's 
web. The State Board of Education has looked well after its special 
field, and shows that Illinois is prosperous, not alone in material, but 
intellectual things. 

The great states grouped around Illinois, while they have not 
striven to compete with her building, are no whit behind her in the 
extent and completeness of their displays. 

As representing the great corn belt, Iowa takes the palm with her 
Corn Palace. A more unique and beautiful structure it would be hard 
to imagine. When many another feature of the Columbian Exposition 
has faded from the memory, this building will stand out clear and dis- 
tinc: to the mind's eye. As we look along its extensive front, and up to 
its 1 umerous pinnacles and turrets, and the dome towering above 
all, ^ve see nothing but corn, in its various forms. Within, as well as 
without, the only decoration is cereals, and none other is needed. Iowa 
has much else to show us, but we shall remember her for her corn — 
although not for her corn juice, this product being lacking. 

Wisconsin and Minnesota are running a race in the lumber arena» 



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CALIFORNIA AND THE COAST. c^St 

Michigan having won her laurels in this field has stepped aside. 
These two neighborly States have not thought it necessary to erect 
any "Lumber Palace," in imitation of Iowa, as all the buildings on the 
grounds attest their resources in the Hne of wood. But if you want 
to know anything about logs, saw-mills, boards, shingle or lath,, ask 
Wisconsin. Perhaps she can tell something about beer also. 

Michigan comes to the fore with her minerals and building stones, 
from the Lake Superior country — that great region so marvelously rich 
in all that lies beneath the soil. An immense mass of native copper, 
just as it was found in the mine, heads the exhibit most worthily. 

Ohio, rich in almost everything, and displaying all her riches, em- 
phasizes especially her petroleum industry. She digs for us an oil well, 
pumps, pipes and refines the crude product. Shows us how to make iron 
and glass with it, and burn it at our study table. 

CALIFORNIA AND THE COAST. 

No State has taken more interest in the Exposition than California. 
Few of the States have such a wide range of products and none have 
made a better display ot them. The exhibition of fruits is something 
marvelous. Oranges, lemons, peaches, pears grapes, and all their 
relatives are here. They are built into pyramids, columns and domes, 
and ofttimes into some structure of historical or local interest. The dis- 
play of native woods is large and attractive, but in this line all smks into 
insignificance beside the mammoth redwood tree, brought at infinite 
labor and expense from her distant mountain sides. This puny infant 
is but 312 feet high, 99 feet in circumference and 3000 years old. 
The only thing California failed to send is a good sample of her climate. 

Oregon and Washington have evidently been fishing on a large 
scale, from the glance we have of their salmon exhibit. We fear to 
mention what we see, lest we be accused of telling a fish story. Nor in 
furs, lumber and farm products are they behind others. 

Montana, Idaho and Colorado — need we mention gold and silver, 
copper, lead and iron after naming these States? Why, silver bricks so 
abound, that we would scarce demur if told that they were used for 
building purposes in the mountains. The rumble of the huge ore 
crushers is still in our ears. 

NEW ENGLAND AND THE MIDDLE STATES. 
No need to say, "Look in the departments of manufactures and 



THE SOUTH. 589 

machinery for New England." Not that her farmers are not here, far 
from it, but who shall question the supremacy of Yankeedom with a 
machine, or who shall name the products. Locomotives and pins, fire 
arms and sewing machines, cotton cloth and ribbons, paper and watches, 
and all the machines to make them, of such is the list composed. But 
we should do fair New England a gross injustice did we omit to mention 
the educational displays made by all her States. Without New England 
this country would never have been what it is to-day, and where would 
New England be without her schools and colleges and churches. 

The Empire State has maintained her reputation and position in the 
liberality of her appropriation for the Fair, and in consequence her 
immense wealth and commanding place in the country are fully shown. 
Her great railway systems are spread before us. Her commerce by 
land and sea is depicted. Her varied manufactures, rich agricultural 
possessions and natural resources of forest, lake and mine are carefully 
set forth. A prominent position is deservedly given to the great 
engineering works within her borders, notably the Brooklyn Bridge, Erie 
Canal, Croton Aqueduct, and the new bridge over the Hudson. 

Pennsylvania has devoted herelf largely to coal and iron. It is hard 
to conceive a form in which iron appears that is not shown. We find it 
in the ore, the pig, the bar and the most highly finished product. She 
rolls out a rail for us, or a massive girder for a lofty building, and she 
makes the delicate watch spring. She reveals to us the workings of a 
coal mine, showing how the coal lies in the rocks, how it is mined, and 
transported to market, and finally leaves us in front of a huge block of 
coal nearly large enough to make a small cottage for one of the hardy 
men who mined it. 

THE SOUTH. 

The Sunny South, with the energy she is displaying in so many 
ways, has come to Chicago determined to let the world know of her 
advancement and material prosperity. Cotton has long been the king 
there, and is so still, and we expect to be thoroughly introduced to his 
majesty. We see it from the ball in the field through the various pro- 
cesses of picking, ginning, pressing, spinning, and weaving into cloth 
all of which our thrifty southern cousins are now doing for themselves. 
Besides the cotton, we see the fruits and alligators from Florida, rice from 
Carolina, tobacco from Virginia and Kentucky, iron from Alabama, and 
cattle from Texas. 



SOME FOREIGN EXHIBITS. 



IN GENERAL. 



,T is impossible to move a single step in the Fair without a thrill 
of exultation and an ever-growing sense of wonder, not only at 
the productions themselves, but at the proofs they afford of the 
boundless capacities for production of those who made them. 
On this text the World's Columbian Exposition is indeed a 
wondrous commentary. Glance over lists of the countries and 
people exhibiting — representative not only of all the great divisions of 
the globe, but of all the great families of men; people who live among 
tropical heats and arctic frosts, and in all the great varieties of temperate 
climes between. There are black men, brown men, yellow men and 
white men. Hoary despotisms, legal and ecclesiastical; young republics 
alike vigorous and noisy; constitutional governments in every phase of 
development— all contribute. And the contributions they make are so 
vast, and so varied, that no one person, in the entire six months the 
Exposition is to be open, would be able to view them all and have 
any clear idea of what he had seen. Let us not, therefore, undertake 
the impossible; but as we have hastily viewed the more American 
parts of the great display, so let us wander at our pleasure, without 
any very definite plan, among our foreign friends and see what they 
have brought from their several homes for the world to view. 

We say foreign "friends" for have we not in this book already 
visited many of them at home, and become so well acquainted with 
their customs and manner of living that now in our own country we can 
welcome them into the circle of friends? 

We shall find the great staple products of the factory, the soil and 
the mine displayed in great profusion by all the leading nations of the 
earth. Each is proud and happy to bring hither her articles of com- 
merce and open them for inspection in competition with all comers. 
But we are sight-seers and soon tire of endless piles of cotton and woolens, 

590 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 59 1 

masses of iron, copper and zinc, and heaps of corn, wheat and potatoes. 
Let us assume that all these, and much more, are here displayed by the 
several nations, and leave them to the inspection of the student, the 
political economist and the merchant. We shall be content later on to 
read the conclusion they draw as the result of their study and com- 
parison. In the meantime let us search out, if we can, what is more 
distinctive in each national department, or what is different from that 
which daily surrounds us. 

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 

The material greatness of this country is amazing, it exceeds that 
of any empire, ancient or modern, and its government by settled law 
makes its moral greatness still grander. The Mother of Nations, its 
history, its laws, its literature, its battles, its commerce, its citizens, its 
arts and industries are themes of inexhaustible richness and afford an 
interest to every American far exceeding that of any other country. As 
England is the workshop of Europe, her exhibit comprises a full repre- 
sentation of all that art, science and manufacture can display. 

Porcelain of greatest beauty and value is well represented here 
from Chelsea, Bow, Derby and Worcester. The Chelsea, of a pure 
white color, is marked with a gold anchor; the Bow can be known by 
its blue anchor; the Derby with its crown in pink and violet, and the 
Royal Worcester with the cresent in blue. Costly dinner services are 
the chief exhibits, the color being the now fashionable oriental turquoise, 
contrasted pleasingly with chased gold. There are also several groups 
of the famous Wedgwood porcelain, and quite a large exhibit of porce- 
lain in imitation of the Dresden. 

The Lambeth potteries also furnish a collection, unique and attrac- 
tive. The products of Lambeth are better known as Doulton ware, 
and comprise articles for practical use as well as for ornament, and so 
there is a goodly show of tankards, vases, platters, cups, etc. These 
potteries also show tesselated floors, painted tiles, from the size of chim- 
ney pieces to little ornaments for the wall, and they seem capable of 
successfully baking anything from coarse terra-cotta to the most exquisite 
bit of painting, or the commonest glazed pie-plate. 

There are superb collections of plate and jewelry, around which 
there is a continual flutter, and they certainly are the highest quality of 
art workmanship. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, flash and 
sparkle most gloriously, and so do the eyes that behold them. A very 



592 THE WORLD S FAIR. 

interesting- feature is that which exhibits a series of the stones used in 
jewelry, which gives the visitor an insight into the difficulties, as well as 
the materials, of the jeweler's art, and shows him how much practical 
art and knowledge is wanted to give effect and beauty of form to the 
stones which the lapidary furnishes. 

But to turn to more substantial things in hardware, the produc- 
tions of the great and important towns of Birmingham, Sheffield and 
Wolverhampton vie with each other, and there is a rich array of 
everything in that line from a brass bedstead or ornamental grate to door- 
bolts or key-rings. In cutlery, Sheffield, of course, excels, and a won- 
drous exhibit the fine old town makes, proudly conscious that she beats 
the world in that line of industry. As we have no need of a pocket- 
knife with twenty blades and a complete set of carpenter tools, we 
pass on. 

We find next an extensive variety of philosophical and scientific 
instruments and appliances for aiding the examination of life in its 
earliest germs; microscopes that make the point of a needle look like a 
fence post, and telescopes that bring the moon so near that we can talk 
to the old man. 

Another collection of England's instruments may be mentioned here, 
and that is the interesting exhibit of ordnance and small arms which she 
has sent us from her great arsenal at Woolwich. As these are halcyon 
days of peace and not of war, we will not comment on them. 

No matter how England got them, whether in Behring sea or not, it 
cannot be denied that her display of sealskin and other furs is remarka- 
bly fine — Ermine, Russian Sable, Grebe, Chinchilla and Astrakan and 
other varieties are tastefully diplayed and are an attractive and heart- 
breaking feature of the English section. 

But England's great source of internal wealth, her commerce and her 
pride, is her textile manufactures, and in this particular she is nobly 
represented at the Fair. There are carpets from Axminster, Kidder- 
minster, London and Durham, whose patterns and colors are triumphs of 
design; blankets, whose fleece and softness entices one to rest; table 
covers, damasks, moreens and goods for upholstery purposes from 
Halifax; flannels from Rochdale; from London a rich and varied display 
of dress and furniture silks and woolen cloths; silk velvets, cotton velvets, 
damasks, silk goods and cotton fabrics from Manchester. The Norwich 
firms are the largest contributors in light dress fabrics, and present 
them in every combination that silk, wool and cotton will permit. Silk 
ribbons from Coventry show what works of art English looms can 



England's household. 595 

achieve, and the linens and yarns of Leeds, and the diapers and hucka- 
backs of Barnesly commune in graceful piles together. 

Scotland, in addition to the large display of the usual textile 
nature is represented by specimens of that peculiar material and pattern 
known as the Highland tartan, also by her well-known tweed cloths, 
her Paisley shawls, wraps made of the undyed wool, and hand-knitted 
socks and stockings. There are also many Shetland shawls, the 
industry of the women of that remote locality, who perform marvels 
without the aid of any machinery beyond their nimble fingers. 

ENGLAND'S HOUSEHOLD. 

England's colonies are her pride, and well they may be, for like our- 
selves who once held that relation to her, so too her younger children 
are grown to be strong and lusty nations, who feel the old home getting 
too small for their needs. Their exhibits • are grouped around the 
maternal display just as an aged tree is often surrounded by thriving 
shoots springing from the common root. 

British North America, our nearest and most friendly neighbor, 
pushes us hard for the palm in many things that we pride ourselves 
on as leaders of the world. The cereals from the Northwest make the 
hard worked and thrifty New England farmer still more tired over the 
scanty produce of his stony farm. Canada's magnificent display of 
lumber, salt and minerals awakens a renewed desire for reciprocity in the 
breasts of the hardy Western agriculturalist, and the enterprising man- 
ufacturer, who are both seeking the markets of the globe for their 
respective products. 

But in the line of furs, fur bearing animals and fish we stand aside 
in the presence of our Northern friends. Nova Scotia and British 
Columbia, Newfoundland and the icy North join hands to send their 
treasures. 

Our eyes light first on an enormous whale, stuffed to be sure, but 
alongside his massive head lie the fragments of the boat crushed in his 
vice like jaws before he surrendered; around him are the various whale 
products and implements for his capture. Near by are sharks of all 
kinds and sizes, from the troublesome dog-fish to the savage man- 
eater. For all of them human Ingenuity has found some use, as is 
shown by the exhibits adjacent. The sword-fish, saw-fish, and 
frightful cuttle fish with his eight terrible arms, of which Victor Hugo 
wrote with such blood chilling vividness, all are here. Among the 
monsters of the deep we miss alone our old friend, the sea serpent. 



59^ THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

Not even the prowess and craft of the sturdy Newfoundland fisherman 
could persuade him to attend the Exposition. Had P. T. Barnum lived 
even this lack would have been filled. 

Turning to the section of food fishes we no longer wonder that the 
ocean is salt, when we gaze on the vast piles of cod and mackerel, 
herrings and halibut. We look with interest on the festive lobster — the 
very one who stirred up so much trouble in Newfoundland between the 
French and the English — and wonder at his enormous claws, which are 
so large that he has to go at everything backwards. 

With the smell of the sea still in our nostrils we turn to an immense 
block of seeming ice on which stands a huge polar bear, rearing on her 
hind feet and defending with her sharp claws her helpless cub from the 
attacks of two Esquimaux, who covet the beautiful white skins for this 
very occasion. Near by an industrious beaver is hard at work on a tree 
trunk needed to complete his wonderful dam, than which no engineer in 
the country can build a better. Around this busy worker we see the 
mink, the otter and the sable, and the traps to which they fell victims. 
But we must hasten on to warmer climes, and only pause long enough to 
give a yearning look at the complete collection of game birds and their 
nests — wary denizens of the far North, but who, like ourselves, find 
pleasure in a Southern home for the winter months. The ducks, the 
geese and the cranes are so natural that one checks an involuntary motion 
as if to bring a gun to the shoulder. 

Gibraltar, the most famous, glorious, and valued of England's 
European dependencies, that rocky strip which guards the Mediterranean, 
sends the usual contribution to all great exhibitions — a pair of stuffed 
baboons, which faithfully represent the only native product of the 
great rocky promontory. These are contributed by the officers of the: 
garrison, under permission of the governor and commander-in-chief. 

A mighty nugget of virgin gold, around which the crowd con- 
stantly gathers, reminds us that Australia, that far-away island 
continent, is here to claim kinship with us, and show her wares. She 
has her great exhibits of wool and cereals, and minerals too, but the 
gold attracts while the wool does not, we foolish mortals forgetting 
that the glittering gold we covet comes quickest, in the long-run, by 
means of the very wool and iron we pass by in such indifference. 

Another group, yet larger than the one just left, draws us with an 
irresistible impulse. We see a small show-case, a handful of little 
whitey-brown stones, and a policeman guarding it all. What does it 
all mean? "Why, these are diamonds, in the rough, from the famous 



INDIA. 597 

Kimberly mines," says a bystander. Who would think that these dull 
pebbles can ever look like that blazing gem yonder, which seems to 
throw a mass of light on all around — now red, now blue, now green. 
When we come to the exhibits of Holland, that land of patient toil, we 
shall see what tireless study and months of labor were needed to bring- 
out the hidden beauties of yon peerless jewels. 

INDIA. 

Who has not heard of the marvelous wealth of India, the desire 
for which first led to the discovery of this fair land of ours, and spurred 
Columbus and his comrades to do the deeds which here we celebrate. 
We have pictured to ourselves piles of gold and silver, diamonds, pearls 
and rubies, silks and satins. These are all here and much besides. 
India to-day is wealthier than ever before, in all that makes a nation 
truly rich, but the outward dash and show is gone ? 

Here we see brilliant shawls, appealing to the eye with their blaze 
of gold and silver; filmy gold muslins from Dacca; embroideries from 
Scinde; black and gold applique from Delhi, wraps bearing a resem- 
blance, from their silver trimmings, to scale armor; brass vessels too, 
commonly used by the native Hindoos and Mohammedans, some of them 
very elegant, and, as well as the pottery, forcibly reminding one of the 
forms found in ancient Egyptian and Etruscan remains. A little further 
on are rich praying carpets, chairs in ebony elaborately ornamented, 
sets of Indian toys, probably of the same kind that Indian children 
played with when British children were sold in the slave marts of Rome. 
But these are overshadowed by the gorgeous collections of jewelry, rich 
embroideries and other articles of great value. Then, too, there are 
curious carvings in pith, and equally remarkable ones in various stones. 
Agate and jasper in slabs and fashioned into objects of adornment and 
utility, carvings also on ivory and ebony, and scores of articles of 
oriental life and luxury, alike interesting and picturesque, speak volumes 
of the immense wealth of this vast empire that kneels at England's feet» 

COFFEE WITH THE TURKS. • 

All this kaleidoscope of changing color and form wearies us, and 
we gladly take refuge in a convenient cafe in the Turkish booth. Casting 
ourselves gratefully down on their comfortable divans we order coffee 
for the party. Presently a woman, clad in the loose robes and 
baggy trousers of the East, with her voluptuous beauty but half 



598 



THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



concealed behind her gauzy veil, appears bearing on a tray the dainty 
porcelain cups filled with the fragrant Mocha, fresh from Arabia's desert 
sands. 




A FAIR TURK. 



The draught brings rest and refreshment and gives a leisure moment 
to glance at the "Sick Man's" display. Not very sick after all is the 
thought that comes to the mind. Perfumes of all kinds fill the air, while 
round the walls are hung innumerable rugs, on which generations of 
pious Moslems have knelt at prayer, their faces turned ever towards the 
holy Mecca. As the Turk has always gone with Koran in one hand and 
sword in the other, so it is fitting to turn next to her famous Damascus 
blades, keen as a razor and curved like a bow, the hilts elaborately 
inlaid with gold, silver and mother of pearl, and studded with gems fit 



THE CZAR'S DOMINIONS. 599 

for the Sultan Haroun-al-Raschid himself. Declining a pull at the 
Turkish pipes, with their water bowls and black tobacco, we saunter on^ 

THE CZAR'S DOMINIONS. 

Russia has always been a friend of the United States. Greater ex- 
tremes in thought, manners, religion, and government than the two 
countries present it would be hard to find among civilized nations, and 
yet they are friends. For this reason the Russian exhibit is one of the 
most extensive of any foreign land. If we think the Czar's great empire 
produces nothing but snow, furs and Siberian exiles we learn our 
mistake on viewmg the grand display of manufactured goods and pro- 
ducts of the soil and mines. The western farmer, as well as the decrepit 
Turk, has reason to fear the land of the Sclav. When wheat touches 
eighty cents he knows the Russian harvest is bountiful, and the peasant 
of the steppes is before him in the markets of Europe. We can pause 
here only long enough to glance into the wonderful Malachite room 
and feast our eyes on the beautiful green stone from the Siberian 
mines, which appears in forms and shapes too numerous to mention. 
If the Czar desires to honor a friendly prince, surely nothing can 
be more appropriate than the gift of one of these costly tables or mag- 
nificent vases and jars, that are worth a royal ransom. 

From Russia we hear of wars and rumors of wars, but surely nothing 
can be more peaceful than the charming Sclavic home we find here, 
nestled among the trees of this, to them, far away land. It rests us to 
turn from princes and potentates to its cosy comfort. 

THE "FATHERLAND." 

Germany is nothing if not warlike, and so it is fitting that the first 
thing to attract our attention is one of those huge guns from Herr 
Krupp's famous factory at Essen. The power of the monster appalls us 
and we do not wonder that Austria and France trembled at its roar. 
Let us hope that those days are gone forever, and that the future use of 
such things will be as curious antiquities in Expositions like the present. 
But Germany can show other things than cannon, and had we not 
already feasted our eyes on diamonds and emeralds, we should linger 
long over the brilliant display from the noted museum at Dresden. A 
very wonderland is opened to the children in the array of toys from the 
Black Forest country. Dolls until you can't rest are here, some 
talking, some laughing, some crying; dogs large and dogs small; Noah's 



600 THE world's FAIR. 

Arks, with more animals in them than Noah ever saw; wagons and carts 
and donkeys; whistles and trumpets, etc., etc., until the head of old 
Santa Claus might fairly spin at the sight. 

Did not time press us so hard we would fain linger among some 
of the old books and wooden types from the printing press of Gutten- 
berg and his successors, or over the memorials here gathered of Martin 
Luther, Goethe, Schiller, Frederick the Great, Wagner and other 
worthies famous the world around. But we must on — on. We pass a 
Swiss Chalet where is exhibited a relief map of the Alps, showing in 
every detail its mountains and valleys, glaciers and water-falls. We 
are not even stopped by the wondrous wood carvings and the sweet 
strains of a music box, big enough to hold a folding bed. 

With a pang we pass the entrance to the Egyptian street, modeled 
after an ancient Nile temple. We long to view again the relics of 
Egypt's former greatness, thousands of years before Columbus and 
America were heard of, but having visited this child of the Nile in an 
earlier part of this book, we must now rest content with the remembrance. 
This we must do also of the reproduction of Pompeii, with its streets 
and houses standing just as they were, at the foot of Vesuvius, on the 
memorable morning of the day of the eruption. 

ITALY. 

We cannot treat Italy so however, for forgetting her irritation over 
the unfortunate New Orleans affair, she has appeared here in all her 
wealth of history and art. And what a history, and what art! A famous 
writer has said "See Rome and die." If we cannot see Rome here we 
can see, at least, a large share of it. We can trace its rise from the days 
of Romulus and Remus, with their wolf mother, to the time of the proud- 
est of the Caesars. We see it in the height of its glory and the misery 
of its fall. We see modern Rome too, and the modern Roman — the 
latter far less attractive than the former. 

From relics and Romans we turn to Venice and Naples. We feast 
our eyes, and hold our pocket books, while viewing the beautiful neck- 
laces, brooches, and ear-rings of dainty pink coral. No wonder the 
women crowd in here so constantly that a man has little show. 
Filigree jewelry ot the most delicate pattierns, in gold and silver, and 
mosaics, of stone and glass, so finely executed that they seem like min- 
iature paintings of exquisite neatness, these and a thousand other things 
distract our attention, and claim each precedence over the others. We 
turn for relief to a spotless block of Carrara marble, just as it came 



LA BELLE FRANCE. 6oi 

from the famous quarry. We can almost see a Venus, or an Apollo, 
hidden in its rugged outlines, ready to step forth at the bidding of some 
modern Michael Angelo. We need now only a gondola and the merry song 
of the gondolier to take us in very fact to Italy's sunny shores. 
These we find but a few steps distant, on the lagoon, and for a rest we 
will spend a half hour on the water before visiting 

LA BELLE FRANCE. 

We find here a miniature exposition in itself. Hardly anything is 
lacking, and all is arranged with the exquisite taste for which the French 
are famous the world over. Amid so much we cannot see all, and 
we know not what to omit. Lyons is here with her silks of many 
colors; lace too from Chantilly, and point d'Alencon, so fine and 
delicate in ornamentation that Eve might well be tempted to fall again; 
shawls, ribbons and gloves in dazzling numbers and attractive 
appearance. 

A most fascinating study is the cultivation of the silk worm. We 
see him here as he placidly feeds on his mulberry leaves, and as he care- 
fully builds his silken house around him. We watch with interest the 
unwinding of the yellow cocoon, the spinning of the threads and the 
weaving of the delicate fabrics for the market. 

Were we not strictly temperate in our principles the tempting dis- 
play of wines and brandies froni France's fertile vineyards might prove 
too much for us. As it is we pass by on the other side and pause instead 
before the collection of Sevres ware — probably the finest china in the 
world. Each piece is worth a fortune, and after inquiring the price of 
one small vase we dared not question further fearing that either we had 
lost our senses or "Monsieur" had. 

CHINA AND JAPAN. 

In a quiet corner, in the north part of the Park, whither we have 
wandered, thinking perhaps to get out of the crowd a litde, we suddenly 
come upon a strange scene, which seems hardly a part of the world we 
live in. A veritable Japanese village greets our eyes, as complete in all 
respects as if it were in the heart of Japan. We see the little bamboo 
houses all open to the street, which they closely crowd on either side, 
each one a miniature shop, where the workman busily plies his trade. 
Here we see a man patiently weaving the golden threads in and out 
of a silken screen, on which he is tracing some weird-looking bird. 



602 



THE world's fair. 



He lies at full length on his work, and seems in a most uncomfortable 
position for doing anything. On the opposite side of the narrow 
street another is working on a large cloisonne vase. We stand in 
rapt attention as he skillfully bends the little brass strips and sets 
them on edge, tracing out his intricate pattern on the surface of the 
work, ready to be filled in with the beautiful colored enamels pre- 
paratory to baking. Others are making the strong, light fans, with 
their grotesque figures, one of which we unwittingly have in hand as 
we gaze. Still others are busy with umbrellas and dolls, while a little 
further on we pause to watch a group of jugglers, who seem able to 
change black to white before our eyes, or to take the very clothes 
from off our backs without our knowing it. 

Not far away John Chinaman holds forth in similar state. Although 
we have no great love for his race we must make him a call, and 
stay long enough to learn how the tea he sends us is grown and 
cured, and how he prepares it for the table. We may even be per- 
suaded to taste a little from the dainty morsel of a porcelain cup in 
which it is offered. 

Kind reader, let us pause. We had intended to speak of Spain and 
her contribution of Columbus relics of such wide interest — of Africa and 
her vicious pigmies, whom Stanley borrowed apd brought here for this 
great occasion — of South America and ijs ample riches. We planned to 
take you into these ancient Aztec and Indian abodes — to visit the Esqui- 
maux from Greenland- — the cannibals from Feejee — to go with you 
through that famous street, of old Damascus, called/'Straight," so closely 
identified with the life of the apostle St. Paul. 

Yes, all these things we have omitted and a thousand and one more. 
But you must remember this is a World's Fair and all the world is here, 
to exhibit and to see. A week, a month will not suffice. Had we twice 
the time and thrice the space still a tithe could not be mentioned. 



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